The Prince of Innocence
by sandarikka
Summary: Allen is the prince. He's got everything a prince should - a best friend and a beautiful bride, a terrorising master and a crazy steward. But this is the year that the war with the Millenium Earl starts, and the year that Allen falls in love... AU Yullen  Indefinite Hiatus.
1. Allen

Allen strolled down through the castle grounds. It was a perfect day; the sun was shining and the leaves had just started to bud on all the trees. The air was starting to get warm again, and it was clear that it was going to be a beautiful spring in the European country of Innocence.

It was still cool, even at midmorning, so Allen was wearing a coat over his usual shirt and vest. On the left lapel, there was a fist sized hole that looked as though something had been cut out of it. Allen knew that his father, his steward, and his master would not approve, but he didn't like wearing the green cross that was the symbol of his country, Innocence, so he had cut it off the long coat.

"Morning, Prince!" Two guards jumped to attention and saluted as Allen walked past.

Allen nodded slightly to them and kept walking, in the direction of the gate.

It was unfortunate for him that he had such recognisable features. No fifteen year old had hair so blond it appeared white, nor would they have such a vivid red scar down the side of their face. And no fifteen year old save the prince of Innocence would have had his whole left arm dyed red at birth.

Yes, it was indeed unfortunate for Allen. He didn't want to be the prince. He didn't think he could shoulder the responsibilities, but in just three short years, when he turned eighteen, he would legally become the king of Innocence.

Having such a recognisable, well-known face made it hard for Allen to go out into the town and help people, which is what he liked to do. He often joined in building projects, or helped merchants carry their wares. He was extremely popular with the people of Innocence, so none of them would have any problem with Allen becoming their king. It was just Allen himself that didn't want to take on the responsibility.

"Morning, Prince!" the guard at the gate said as Allen passed under the castle walls and out into the main town.

Although the capital city of Innocence, also called Innocence, had never been attacked in living memory, the wall separating the royal castle from the rest of the village still stood. Allen smiled ruefully to himself. Though his steward often raged at the annoyance having the wall caused, Allen's master refused to let the wall be removed.

"_We might need it one day,"_ he always said, though Allen couldn't imagine a situation in which they would need a ten foot high wall around their castle. Whenever Allen asked why, his master jabbed him unnecessarily hard with a sword.

Allen smiled ruefully at the thought of his master. The real reason for being up this early was not to get into town as soon as possible, but to escape the castle before his master woke up and thought of a new way to torment him. This early in the morning, Allen's master was sure to be hung-over from the night before, giving Allen a chance to escape.

"Gah!" Allen stuttered, stumbling over a sticking up flagstone. He shuddered. Why waste the day with scary thoughts of… "master"… when he could be out in the world helping people?

"AAAAllen-chan~!"

Allen froze in mid-step. Only two people in the world called him that, and both of them were people… indescribable characters, truthfully. Truly individual in that way that only some people are.

Robotically, Allen turned to face the voice and breathed a sigh of relief and frustration. It was Lavi, the castle's Fool and his best friend. Out of the two people who called him "Allen-chan", Allen was glad it was Lavi. Because if it had been the other person… well, he didn't want to think about it. With time drawing closer to his 18th birthday – three years! Just three years! – Allen was beginning to feel awkward around the person that came with the person that called him Allen-chan.

"Hey, Allen! What's with the dumbstruck face?"

"Do you always have to announce yourself as loudly as possible?" Allen asked in an exasperated voice. It didn't help his attempts to go unnoticed when a loud, red-haired guy shouted his name loudly across the town square.

"Well anyway, Komui wants to see you," Lavi told him, completely ignoring Allen's question.

"Ahh, but I'm busy now."

"It's Komui."

Allen's eye twitched. "That's true…"

"It's about Lenalee…"

Allen shuddered again. "Then I'm not going!"

"OK!" Lavi gave a huge grin with his eye closed. The other was hidden beneath an eye-patch that no-one had ever seen beneath. No-one knew why he wore it, either.

Allen rolled his eyes and went back to helping the city's brewer roll a barrel of ale across the market to an inn on the other side of the square. "How did you find me, anyway?"

"It's not hard." Lavi mimicked a scene. "'Have you seen the Prince near here?' 'Yes, he went that way.' 'Thank you, mam.'" He stopped and straightened. "Everyone knows your whereabouts at all times!"

"Urgh," Allen grunted, both in frustration and exertion as he tried to roll the barrel in a straight line. _I knew I should have worn the hooded cloak…_

"And anyway, Allen, why do you always do all this stuff out here in the town? That's why we have servants." Lavi scratched his bright red hair in puzzlement.

"Because I like doing it. I like to help people."

Lavi rolled his eye, adjusting the headband that held back his short hair. "How you're ever going to manage when you have to be the king, I'll never know."

Allen shrugged. "Maybe I'll just do what Komui does and pretend the country can run itself."

"You mean just leave all the stuff on your desk and see what happens?"

"Just like Komui."

"But Komui has Reever to save him whenever the country tries to explode because he's not doing what he should be."

"If Komui – this is Komui, Lavi – can keep the country running, then surely I can. Besides, if Komui can spend time doing whatever it is he's doing down in the dungeons, surely I can take time off to do what I want to do in the town."

"Wellll, you can say one thing, Allen, you'll be the most popular king ever. The people love you!"

"Thanks, Lavi." Allen sighed. Lavi was right. The people of Innocence really did love Allen. He was a prince that cared about the people of the country, not anything else. He was one of them. He might have been born royal, but he was one of the people.

Lavi cartwheeled along side Allen until they made it to the inn.

"Thank you, your highness!" the brewer said, giving Allen a mock salute.

"You're welcome, but please, call me Allen. It's my name, after all." Allen shook hands with the man and left the inn with a smile. It felt good to help people.

Lavi continued cartwheeling, seemingly able to keep doing it endlessly.

Eventually Allen stopped walking and shook his head. "What are you doing?"

"Cartwheeling."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"You're making me dizzy."

"I'm trying to make you laugh."

"Why are you out here anyway? Shouldn't you be studying?" Lavi was the castle minstrel and technically the castle Fool, but he was also the apprentice Bookman and had a duty to study and learn about all sorts of things and secrets that Allen either couldn't understand or wasn't allowed to know.

Lavi stopped moving mid-cartwheel and landed on his head. "Well, the old panda told me to go and get some fresh air. Plus your master told me to find you and give you a beating, but I decided to let him do the beating and just bring you home."

"Unhh…" Allen groaned in anticipation. "He's furious, isn't he?"

Lavi grinned, much too happy with his friend's predicament. "Yep! He's told you to stop sneaking out several times."

"I'm the prince; I don't see why some drunk commoner is allowed to boss me around," Allen grumbled.

"And here you were complaining about being royal!" Lavi teased. "Come on Allen-chan, I really think you should hear what Komui has to say about Lenalee."

"Nuh-uh!" Allen shook his head vigorously. "It's bad enough having to deal with Master, but if I have to deal with Komui whining about his sister marrying me in three years, I'll go completely insane!"

They reached the castle walls and went inside. It seemed a lot darker inside the castle grounds, even though it was mid afternoon, because the walls blocked out the sun.

Lavi and Allen strolled across the grounds, chatting amiably. The ground was starting to green up with the promise of spring, and a few birds had come to nest in the newly budding trees once again.

Suddenly Lavi dashed away, shouting back over his shoulder, "I'll have a nice bath ready for you when you're done!"

"Wha-?" Allen started, reaching out a hand after his friend. But then he felt an ominous presence behind him and turned to face his master.

General Cross, the well-known commander of Innocence's army, and lesser known gambler, womanizer and drunkard, was also Allen's swordmaster. Famous for his fighting skills and less famous for his not-so-excellent teaching techniques, he stood menacingly taller than Allen, holding his sword "Judgment" with the point on Allen's nose.

He didn't need to say anything for Allen to know what his intentions were. "But, Master, I don't have my sword with me… Gyaaah~!"

**A/N: that's right. Allen's country is called Innocence. Because I simply couldn't think of anything else. Although I have ideas about who all the characters will be, I don't mind people making suggestions… although Mana, Kanda, Lenalee, Lavi and the Earl's positions are set solid so please only make suggestions for other characters!**

**Also, I happen to mostly dislike the stuff that people wore back in medieval times, so they are going to wear whatever I want! Or maybe just nothing at all… mwahahah!**


	2. Lenalee & Kanda

Lenalee breathed in the fresh spring air. After a long cold winter, the sight of fresh green buds was a welcome sight. Dressed in her favourite black boots, nicknamed the "dark boots", and her riding clothes, she made her way across the manor lawn to the stables.

"Lenalee, wait up!"

Lenalee turned with a smile to greet one of her best friends, Road Camelot. Road's clothes were slightly more girlish, but they were also suitable for riding.

"Let's go have some fun!" Road chattered happily, smiling back at her friend.

As they entered the stables, Lenalee glanced back at her manor house. Without her brother around, the place was quieter and more peaceful. Lenalee lived there with her servants and ladies-in-waiting, of which Road was one.

Though not of royalty, Lenalee and her brother Komui were of high birth and part of Innocence's upper society. Komui had been the steward of Innocence for several years since the death of Allen's parents. Lenalee always wondered what had possessed General Cross to invite someone as unreliable as her brother to run a country, but she had to admit that despite his faults, Komui had done a good job of keeping Innocence moving.

And despite Komui's various faults and the disturbances he often caused with some crazy new invention – that never worked – Lenalee loved her brother and missed him when he wasn't around. It was hard, with him living in the capital and her living in another city a few days travel away.

As she and Road led their horses out of the stable, Lenalee thought happily about the upcoming trip to Innocence City, where she would get to see Allen and Lavi, her two other best friends. Of course, Road would be coming too. Lenalee anticipated the happy days ahead, spending time with her three best friends and laughing. She felt like she hadn't laughed for a long time, as she hadn't seen her friends since the autumn as the roads were too dangerous to travel in winter.

"Thinking about Allen-chan?" Road asked slyly.

Lenalee blushed faintly. "Just thinking about the time we'll all get to spend together this spring."

Road laughed, with a slightly even tone. "Oh yes, it's going to be a lot of fun this spring."

"You shouldn't terrorise Allen too much." Lenalee laughed happily as they mounted their horses. "After all, he has to put up with Komui, General Cross, and Lavi all year round. Having you there for a few months a year just makes it worse!"

"What?" Road looked wounded. "Allen's fun to play with!"

_That sounds creepy._ "I miss them."

"Then let's go for our ride and then get packed and show up a few days early!"

"But that would be rude…"

"So? They're our friends! It's Allen-chan, he won't mind."

Reassured, Lenalee urged her horse into a canter. "I suppose you're right. Hyah!"

"Che." Of course he would go. There wasn't a question about it. He didn't have to like it, but as a knight of Innocence it was his duty to protect the prince. And he didn't appreciate having his abilities doubted by the man who acted like he was Kanda's father.

"Now, Kanda, I hope you appreciate the seriousness of this situation. It is highly likely the Earl will make a move this year. I'm sending you, as my best pupil, to protect Allen Walker, the prince."

_I know who Allen is,_ Kanda thought angrily. Why did this man sound so patronising whenever he talked to him? Did he doubt Kanda's intelligence?

"General Cross is in charge of Innocence City. You should report to him as soon as you arrive. Is that all understood? You can leave as soon as you're packed. It should take you three days to get there."

"I'm already packed." Kanda's voice was flat. He couldn't wait to get away from General Tiedoll. He might be a General of the army, and Kanda respected him, but he didn't like the way the General treated him like a son.

It was true that Kanda didn't know who his parents were. They had abandoned him as a young child whilst crossing the border into Innocence. There, General Tiedoll had found him, and along with several other kids, had taken Kanda in as his apprentice and "son".

Kanda hated that feeling of "family", as he hated many things.

Truthfully, though Innocence was a place of people from countries all over the continent, Kanda had always felt like an outsider. He didn't fit in.

Unlike the other knights under Tiedoll's command, he didn't have the rather typical masculine face. Several times, passing merchants had called him "lass". Some of the other knights even teased him by calling him "girly-face". It didn't help that he wore his hair long in the tradition of the Japanese samurai, a school he had trained in for several years.

Yes, Kanda was an outsider. It was something he was proud of. He liked his solitude. In many ways, he lacked all the qualities knights were renowned for. He wasn't a "people-person" and had to be hard pressured before he would go out of his way to help another. He didn't have any close friends – or indeed, any friends.

Not that he wanted any. Kanda was perfectly happy on his own.

Kanda picked up the small suitcase that he had packed his things in. He didn't have many clothes or personal items, just a spare change of clothes. The suitcase contained bandages for the wounds Kanda knew he would sustain.

General Tiedoll was in charge of the border patrol of Innocence, tasked with keeping out enemies – though there were none, bandits and smugglers often traversed the border – and stopping illegal immigrants. As Kanda was one of Tiedoll's knights, Kanda often spent weeks on end traversing the country's borders, fighting with bandits and agents of the Earl.

Kanda was fiercely proud and _always _finished a battle. He never backed down once a fight had begun, and that pride had often caused him to be injured. Luckily for Kanda, he healed fast. Some of the other knights, such as Daisya, found his "fight to the death" tactics irritating.

"See ya, Yuu!" Daisya called out from the battlements as Kanda passed out the gates of the fortress that was General Tiedoll's home ground.

"Don't call me that," Kanda muttered, because it would have been undignified to shout it back to the knight that considered him a "friend".

The forests surrounding Tiedoll's fortress were large, thick, and full of bandits during the autumn trading season. Kanda didn't doubt that he would be able to deal with anything he found in there.

But still, he touched the hilt of his katana Mugen for reassurance. It never hurt to be prepared.

Kanda gave himself a little self-satisfied smile. Finally, his talents had been recognised. Finally, he was given a task that might just test his abilities – protecting the prince of Innocence.

**A/N: yes, I know that Road and Lenalee aren't really friends. But I like them both. And it's AU. So deal with it. I also feel I should let you know that this Yullen will be more shonen-ai than yaoi. All the same, enjoy!**


	3. Eye To Eye

The day that Lenalee was supposed to arrive dawned sunny, bright, and warm for the first time in months. Lenalee had sent ahead a message to say that she would be arriving a few days early, so Allen had changed some of his plans to get ready for her arrival.

Lavi woke Allen at the crack of dawn by falling in through his third floor window with a loud thud.

Allen sat upright with a jerk. "Wha-?"

Lavi lay spread-eagled on the floor, face down. He was already dressed in his usual navy coat and pants, but his bandana was missing so his hair fell down over his eyes as he looked up. "The Panda. It's chasing me."

Allen groaned, flopping back against his numerous pillows and rubbing his eyes. "At this hour? Why do you have to hide in _my_ room?" Eying the door, he thought, _and where are my guards? They should have heard this noise, and come to investigate._

Lavi picked himself up and dusted himself off. "It's the safest. That ol' panda can't climb this high."

"I wouldn't count on that, young man."

Lavi leapt to safety on Allen's four-poster bed, ducking out of the way of the small figure dressed in black that flew over him. Allen squirmed, trying to get his friend off his legs, gave up and wriggled back under the covers.

The prince smiled to himself as he listened to the ruckus sounding in his room, wondering where his guards were. _Master Cross wouldn't be happy about this. But maybe they know it's just Lavi and Bookman fighting, as usual._

"Ok, ok, I'll finish the books, I promise, I promise!" Lavi shouted as he tore around the room, ducking under Bookman's attacks.

"The Bookman", as he was generally known, was the castle librarian and bard – though no-one had ever heard him sing, and Lavi claimed it was torture on the ears. His real name wasn't known to anyone, except maybe Komui. Bookman had been at the castle on and off for as long as Allen could remember. Every now and then he would disappear in search of some manuscript – so he said – and take Lavi in tow. Allen could perfectly remember the day four years ago when Bookman had shown up in the castle with his new apprentice.

As well as being the castle Fool, Lavi was training to become the next "Bookman". Despite his outward joking manner and lazy attitude to studying, Allen knew his friend was on the way to becoming one of the most knowledgeable men in Innocence. He was glad that he would have someone as loyal and clever as Lavi by his side when he eventually became king.

"Yes, you will. And you will do it _now._"

"Geez, chill out you old panda. Sure, I'll do it today."

"Don't call me old!"

There was a muffled sound of impact, and Allen's breath was jolted out of him as something heavy landed in his stomach. He heard the door to his suite slam and heard retreating footsteps. Again, he wondered where his guards were, and if he should report this to General Cross... but for now, he was trapped under Lavi.

Lavi rolled around on the bed. "Hmm... this feels softer than usual..." He heard a muffled noise. "What's that, mice? Can't have mice in this castle, that cat always keeps them out..."

Allen's head poked out from the top of the covers. "It's me, stupid." He wriggled violently. "Get off me!"

With another loud thud and a complaining shout, Lavi slid onto the cold stone floor. Groaning, he got to his feet. "That ol' panda sure can kick," he complained as he rubbed his back.

Allen wheezed, trying to get his breath back. "Stop complaining about it! If you did what you were supposed to when you were asked to, then he wouldn't come chasing you!"

"Too right!" Lavi said happily. "But there are much more important things than training to be a Bookman."

Allen rolled his eyes, stuck one toe out of bed, felt the cold flagstones, and tucked his feet back under the covers. He shut his eyes and buried his face in the pillow. "Go 'way and let me get more sleep."

"Nuh uh. Lenalee's coming today, so you have to get up and be all ready!"

"She's not due until this afternoon," Allen complained. "I don't see why I have to get up at the crack of dawn just for that. Gak!" Lavi's face was inches from his, the red-head's fringe tickling Allen's cheeks. He pulled the covers up again, feeling his cheeks redden from the shock.

"Heheh, I saw that."

"Saw what?"

"Ciao! I'm going to do my chores!"

"Wha- Lavi!" Allen threw back the covers just in time to see his friend leave the room with a grin and a wave.

Muttering darkly about the constant interruptions to his life, Allen crawled over to his wardrobe and sorted through the huge selection. He decided there was time for him to go for a quick ride through the woods before Cross found him and made him do more training before Lenalee arrived. Sometimes Allen wondered what on earth Cross thought was going to happen him – Innocence had no enemies, and although there were a few problems with bandits in some of the forests, Allen was always protected by a hand-picked selection of guards, chosen by General Cross and Komui.

Allen dressed in his riding clothes. In every case, he had altered them to hide or disfigure the green cross that was the symbol of his country. He didn't like displaying it; it made it hard for him to help the townspeople when they were distinctly aware that he was the prince.

Not that he could hide his white hair, or his vivid scar. But Allen liked to think it helped.

He made sure to avoid Komui as he made his way down to the stables.

* * *

Kanda muttered darkly to himself as he made his way across the courtyard. He'd got rid of a patronising "father" and a bunch of irritating knights, only to find that his new master was a drunk and that the stupid "rabbit" he'd met a few years earlier were both at the castle.

He growled to himself. General Cross might be the most well known man in the country, and certainly the most capable man to be in charge of Innocence's army, but that didn't change the fact that his methods were strange and his moods unpredictable.

As if that wasn't bad enough, _Lavi_ was at the castle. Kanda had met the stupid redhead a few years ago, when Bookman had come to stay at Tiedoll's fortress, and taken an instant dislike to him. Unfortunately for the knight, the apprentice Bookman had taken an immediate _liking_ to Kanda, and treated him in the most distasteful familiar manner, even calling Kanda by his first name.

"Che," Kanda grunted. He had Mugen. That stupid rabbit had ended up at the sharp end of the blade more than once, so hopefully he would know enough to stay away from it.

Standing guard around a castle was very different to being on border patrol like Kanda was used to. The routine shift changes were at different times with longer intervals between them, and a guard would stand around in constant fear that either Cross or Regent Komui would come and terrorise them with one of their mad "games". Kanda was starting to think that perhaps he'd made a mistake in agreeing to come here – it was _much_ less exciting than guarding the border, and far more irritating.

But Kanda remembered what General Tiedoll had told him. "_It is likely that the Millennium Earl will make a move this year."_ And Kanda knew that this potential threat was the reason that the two generals wanted _him_ at Innocence City. After all, he was one of the best knights either of them had ever trained.

"Company, fall in!" The squadron leader barked as Kanda moved to join the seven other guards who were accompanying the prince on his morning ride. Only two of the others were full knights; the others were just competent swordsmen who had not received their knighthood for various reasons.

As they made their way out of the castle, Kanda thought he heard a sigh come from the prince's horse. Despite having been at the castle for almost a week, Kanda had yet to meet the prince face to face. He had seen him from a distance, and of course everyone knew the face of Allen Walker. But even now the prince's face was hooded, perhaps to hide his distinctive hair and scar.

Kanda remembered the rumours he'd heard about the prince – that he spent more time helping the people of the town than he did anything else. _Che. How stupid._

The forest paths were lined with a few patches of left-over snow. Tiny green buds were everywhere. His suspicious mind already working, Kanda climbed into one of the trees to follow the prince and his escort from above, making sure to tell one of the other guards where he was going so they didn't think he was an attacker.

From this vantage point, he could see the path in front and behind, as well as make sure there were no attackers in the trees. Mugen sheathed across his back, Kanda made his way from tree to tree with ease.

Ten minutes into the forest, and Kanda was travelling a little ahead of the rest of the party. He paused at a corner in the path, hearing a strange noise.

As the prince passed underneath him, Kanda looked up and found the source of the noise. He knew that his duty was to protect the prince, so he did the first thing that he thought of.

Allen heard a shout and looked up, his melancholy thoughts disrupted. Two black shapes were dropping out of the sky, right for him.

The first collided. It knocked him off his horse and to the ground, crushing him into the damp leaves. The force of the impact sent both him and the object rolling towards the edge of the path, Allen ending up beneath the larger, heavier thing.

Allen's horse shied, neighing and bucking, as the second falling shape – a large branch, weakened by the snow and falling from a crushing height – clipped it in the spine painfully, right where Allen had been sitting. If he had been on the horse at that time, the branch would have hit him in the head and could have damaged his brain.

Allen looked up at the face that was inches from his. The knight – who had the paintbrush insignia of General Tiedoll on their left lapel – had long dark hair, navy blue eyes, and a feminine looking face. His heart leapt to his throat, and he felt his face blushing.

It surely was the most beautiful face he had ever seen.

**A/N: Yay, their meeting! The next chapters should be longer – sorry about the short length of these ones. I'm also sorry about last chapter - there was MEANT to be a set of asterixs between Kanda and Lenalee's point of view, but somehow got deleted when I uploaded it... Fixed the problem this time, though :D Thank you to Princess of Oblivion for pointing that out.**


	4. I'm not a girl!

Allen was still blushing an hour later when he crept into the castle library. Well, not _still _blushing. More like, blushing _again. _He couldn't help it. The knight, or knightess, had probably saved his life. Maybe with a little more vigour than necessary. Maybe in a way that was more than a little unconventional. But nevertheless, Allen was grateful. And he was determined the find the knight and say thank you in person.

After Allen had got back off the ground and brushed himself down, the knight who had saved him had disappeared already. The rest of his guard were attempting to calm down his horse, which was still spooking after being hit in the back by the large tree branch. Allen shuddered to think what would have happened if the branch had hit _him_, instead.

Again, thinking of the knight, Allen blushed. He glanced up quickly to make sure none of the library assistants could see him, and then stared at his feet. _It was probably the closest thing to being kissed that had ever happened to him..._

"BOO!"

"GYAAAAAAAAAA!" Allen jumped forward into a bookshelf, which promptly collapsed on him.

"LAVI!" He heard someone yell.

"Oops, gotta run!" Allen's friend told him, and from under the books Allen heard footsteps retreating.

Allen groaned and pulled himself out from under the shelf, turning and helping Bookman to pick it up and put the books back in the right order.

"That boy has been utterly useless today," Bookman muttered. "Even more useless than normal."

"Well, Lenalee is arriving today," Allen pointed out. "He probably just doesn't want to be stuck here all day."

"If he wanted to go, he should do his work!" Bookman's expression softened. "That being said, he's been cooped indoors all winter. And speaking of that, shouldn't you be somewhere else?"

Actually, the reason Allen was in the library was to look for Lavi. The apprentice Bookman might not know everything about the world, but he sure did know a lot about what happened at the castle. Allen was sure he hadn't seen the knight who'd saved him before, so he wanted to know who she was.

Lavi's head popped between two of the shelves. "Is it safe?"

Allen watched Bookman's retreating back. "Yeah."

"Phew. See, I just couldn't resist. You looked so deep in thought!"

Lavi made his way back to a table at the back of the library. The castle library was the biggest in Innocence, and Bookman was the chief librarian. He brought back manuscripts from all over the world to store in the castle's library. Across Europe, it was renowned for its huge selection of books on all topics. People came from various countries just in the hopes of seeing the place, and scholars from across the world came to use its resources.

At the back of the library were many small tables and chairs. A few were occupied at the moment, and Lavi had dragged two together and was utilising the space with a ridiculous amount of books and pieces of parchment spread all over the place.

"What are you doing?" Allen asked, trying to get a look at the papers spread all over the place.

"Nothing, nothing," Lavi said, hastily shuffling the papers into some sort of order and lying them face down on the desk. "Anyway, why did you come in here? I thought you went out for a ride. Shouldn't you be getting ready for Lenalee?"

"Actually, I had to come back early. And now I'm just hiding from Komui." Allen picked up one of the books. _Consorting with the Other Side, _the title read.

Lavi snatched the book out of his hands. "I don't envy you right now, Prince."

"I didn't ask for this! It wasn't my idea; I wasn't even born!" Allen's voice was sad. "It's not like either of us want it, anyway."

Lavi continued to stack the books into some kind of order. "Shouldn't you be going to get ready for Lenalee to arrive?" he asked again.

"Actually, Lavi, I was hoping-" At that moment, Allen heard the bells in the castle's wall being rung. They meant that someone important had arrived. There were only a few people that they would ring for – the Prince (unless he went in through a side gate), a lord or lady such as Lenalee, one of the Generals, or a delegate from another country.

The apprentice Bookman looked up from the table. "Off you go then, Prince. I'll be down in just a tick."

"Lavi-" Allen started again, but as the bells continued to ring, he realised he simply didn't have the time. He knew Lenalee would be hurt if he was late to greet her, so he hurried through the castle and down to the front lawn.

"Slow, idiot apprentice," General Cross said as Allen took his place in the welcoming committee. He slapped the back of Allen's head.

Allen could smell the wine in his Master's breath already. "Sorry, Master," he whimpered, clutching his head.

Through the gates came Lenalee's carriage. It was simple and plain looking, and from a distance you could never tell that it belonged to one of the elite of Innocence. But a closer glance would see that the carriage was well designed and made of expensive, strong materials. It was a plain deep brown, etched with roses.

One of Allen's servants – yes, all of the people who worked at his castle were paid, and well so – stepped forward and opened the door of the carriage.

Allen caught a glimpse of the infamous Dark Boots – Lenalee was known for kicking people with them – before he raised his eyes to look into Lenalee's.

Lenalee and Allen had known each other all their lives, and were closer than blood siblings. When they were ten, they had been told about the betrothal that their parents had set up before they were even born. Despite this, the two had remained good friends – but the betrothal would always be a sore spot between them, and they tried not to bring it up or even think about it.

"The Lady Lenalee Lee," one of the servants intoned formally. "And her handmaiden, Road Camelot."

"Allen-chan!" Road squealed, coming out of the carriage behind Lenalee. Allen winced the high-pitched squeal of joy.

"Lenalee!" Allen said with a quiet joy, stepping forward and kissing Lenalee's outstretched hand, as formality required. He was dressed in his best black coat, the cross symbol embroidered in silver on his left lapel. He couldn't rip the crest off this one; the seamstresses would kill him.

"Allen," Lenalee said in a warm voice, stepping forward to embrace her friend. She was wearing a long red dress, which complemented her porcelain skin.

"Lenaleeeee~!" a second voice screamed at the top of their lungs, and then Allen was flying through the air to land with a thud at Cross' feet. The General aimed a kick at his pupil, but Allen rolled away.

"Keep away from my Lenalee, you lecherous cur!" Komui growled at Allen. He had his arms wrapped around Lenalee's waist and was being dragged along the ground as his sister tried to shake him off.

"Brother," Lenalee said crossly, "that isn't how you should treat the Prince."

"Lenalee, I missed you~!" Komui whined into her skirt, waving his hands around wildly.

"Komui!" she snapped.

Allen's servants, guards, and Lenalee's escort were all looking on, trying not to smile. This kind of scene always happened whenever Lenalee and Komui were in the same area – Komui had what everyone else referred to as "sister complex". The servants were used to it by now.

"Allen-chan~!" Road called again, this time jumping off the carriage steps to land right next to Allen's head.

"Gah-" Allen began, before he was enveloped in a hug from the lady-in-waiting. Road was one of Lenalee's other good friends, though they hadn't known each other that long. Though Allen hated to admit it, he wasn't sure what to make of this girl with short, spiky purple hair. He wasn't even sure he liked her. Every time Road saw him, she screamed out "Allen-chan!" (_not exactly appropriate for a prince,_ Allen thought) and jumped on him. In a way, she was as bad as Lavi.

"Yes, it's good to see you, too, Road," Allen said, disentangling himself from Road.

"I'm here!" Allen turned to see Lavi bounding down the front steps towards them. He tripped over Komui, who was still lying on the floor, and crashed into Lenalee, sending them both flying.

"Well, hi," Lavi said, his face inches from Lenalee's, who blushed.

At this, Komui rose to his feet. "Get off my sister, you creep!" He threw himself on top of them.

Their shouts could be heard from the village.

* * *

Allen flopped onto the couch in his rooms, totally exhausted. Once he'd managed to pull Lavi and Komui apart – or rather, stop Komui from killing Lavi – he'd shown Lenalee and Road to their rooms, on the other side of the castle from the royal suite.

Though Allen was eager to catch up with his friend, he wanted to give Lenalee some time to clean up after being on the road. They could talk over dinner that night.

He smiled to himself. It was good having his two best friends here again. Although Lavi was quite capable of making the castle seem alive on all his own, with Lenalee here, the castle was twice as noisy and busy. Komui was always eccentric, but with Lenalee around, he got even more so, until it wasn't even safe to be near him. When Lenalee was near, Komui's assistant Reever often had to lock him out of what they called the "science labs", where the kingdom's foremost "scientists" researched medicines and machines. Komui was a brilliant scientist, but when Lenalee was near, the only things he made were ridiculous – to put it kindly.

Suddenly, Allen remembered what he'd forgotten in the excitement of Lenalee's arrival. _That knight!_ He sat up suddenly.

The more he thought about it, the more he was sure the knight had been female. No male had such long hair, not if they were a knight. And there weren't many female knights in the castle; Allen would know. Plus, they'd had the insignia of General Tiedoll on their coat, which meant that they must be a new transfer. General Cross would probably have told him eventually.

But, like Cross, Lavi knew about every girl in the castle. It was one of his flaws – he simply had to hit on every woman he saw, with the exception of Lenalee and Road. And, as such, Lavi was the person to ask about the female knight that had saved Allen's life – or at least, that was how Allen liked to see it.

He got up and went to the door. There was always a "runner" stationed outside, usually some young boy or girl who was training to be a page or maidservant.

"Find Lavi," Allen told the boy outside, who didn't look much younger than he was. "Ask him to come here."

"Yes, your highness!" the boy answered, giving a salute and dashing away.

It seemed Lavi was a hard person to find, because it was half an hour before Lavi and the page arrived back at Allen's rooms.

Lavi pushed past Allen into the room and threw himself onto one of the couches. "Ahhhhh, that's good. So, Allen-chan, what did you want?"

"Well, um..." now that the moment was upon him, Allen blushed furiously, not sure how to phrase his question.

Lavi looked at the young prince out of the corner of his single glass-green eye. "Oooh, you're blushing."

"I am not!" Allen protested, going redder. All he could think of was the intensely dark eyes of the knight, whose name he didn't even know.

"Oh, but you are!" Lavi said happily, leaping up. He plonked himself down right next to Allen, and flung an arm around his friend's shoulder, leaning in close. "So, who's got you in a fluster? Lenalee? Road? The new maids that Lenalee brought with her?"

"No! Don't be so stupid!" Allen spluttered, moving away from Lavi. "It's, um..." he poked his two forefingers together and looked at his feet. "The um, knight, who transferred recently from General Tiedoll's fort."

At that, Lavi's normally happy face seemed to falter, but then it was replaced with a wicked smirk. "Ohh, the new transfer guard? And they had Tiedoll's insignia?"

Allen nodded, blushing furiously. Lavi might be his best friend, but he really wasn't to be trusted with this kind of thing. Plus, he made the whole thing even more awkward than it already was.

"Hah!" Lavi cackled loudly to himself. "That person, really?"

"What are you cackling at?" Allen demanded, feeling insulted. "What's wrong with her? She saved my life this morning!"

"_She_ saved your life?" Lavi laughed even louder.

"It's not funny! There was a branch falling; she pushed me out of the way!" Allen could feel his face getting even hotter.

"You're right," Lavi announced, suddenly stopping laughing. "It's not funny. Now, it so happens that I _know_ this knight."

"You do?" Allen's face was pleading.

Lavi winked at Allen as best he could with only one eye. "That's right, I do."

Allen's eyes narrowed. "You're making that up."

"No, no!" Lavi put up both hands in a placating gesture. "Seriously, I know hi- her. I know her. I'll introduce you. If you'd like," he added slyly.

Allen nodded shyly. "Yes. Yes, please. Um, what's her name?" he asked hesitatingly.

"Kanda."

"Isn't that a guy's name?"

"Actually," Lavi said, taking on a lecturing tone and holding up one finger. "In native America, it's a girls' name meaning 'magical power'."

"Oh." Allen was satisfied with that explanation.

"Well, come on, what are you waiting for? Don't you want to go and meet this knight in shining armour who saved your life?" asked Lavi dramatically, grasping Allen's hands, kneeling in front of him and looking up at him with a big puppy eye.

Allen pulled his hands away, embarrassed. "Ok, let's go."

* * *

Kanda was practising in the training arena, around the back of the castle. There were many stuffed dummies scattered around the dirt area, and all of them lacked heads. Their heads, and indeed the rest of their limbs, were scattered around on the ground in various states of dismemberment.

The knight sheathed his sword, Mugen, in its black and white sheath, thinking back on the day. His first assignment as the Prince's protector, and he'd had to jump out of a tree and land on the brat, all because of some stupid falling branch. And it had taken General Cross long enough to get around to seeing him in person. It seemed that the famous General didn't really care too much about his insubordinates.

Kanda turned to leave, but before he could make his way halfway across the arena, the little side door opened and a small figure was pushed in. With his perfect hearing, Kanda could hear that annoying Rabbit's voice saying, "don't worry! It'll be fine! He- She's really nice, don't worry!" before slamming the door shut on the little figure.

"Tch." That stupid Rabbit was probably trying to stir up more trouble. Hold on a minute... now that he looked, Kanda could see that the shy little figure was actually the Prince. He was standing, staring nervously at the ground, right in front of the door where Kanda would have to exit the arena.

"Tch," Kanda repeated. He strode across the arena.

Allen looked up to see the knight who he had come so close to striding towards him. She had a look of indifference on her slim face, and didn't appear to be coming over to chat. Allen would have to take the first step himself, then.

"Um, excuse me, miss knight?" Allen began.

The knight ignored him.

"Hey, I'm talking to you! You saved my life this morning!" Didn't Lavi say that Kanda was kind and thoughtful? What was with this ignoring act?

"Miss Kanda? Is that your name?"

Kanda pushed past Allen and out the door. Kanda didn't care if this annoying little kid was the prince. He just wanted to go and have a shower, wash his hair, and go somewhere quiet for the afternoon, since he was off duty.

Affronted, Allen followed after the knight. "I..." He started to get nervous again. "I wanted to thank you for this morning." When he got no response, he continued. "I was wondering if... if... if you'd like to, um, go down into the town with me? It's just that, um, there's not that many female knights, and um..."

"And _what?_" Kanda growled, finally losing his patience (he didn't have much).

"Well, um..." Allen said, looking at the ground. "I'd like to get to know you better, Miss Kanda."

Kanda snorted. "I'm not a girl. I suppose that idiot Rabbit told you that I was?"

"Huh!" Allen looked up. Now that his knight had started talking, he realised that she – he! – really did have a very deep voice. Had Lavi lied to him! Was his saviour really a man? "You're a boy!"

The knight grunted in affirmation.

"But! I thought... I thought you were a girl! I mean, you have long hair... you look sort of girly..." Allen's voice trailed off and he looked at the ground, blushing furiously."

"Really?" the deep voice – much too deep for a girl's, Allen realised ruefully – snarled. "Well, _beansprout,_ with your height, you can't really be talking. You look like a girl from a distance, too."

"What?" Now Allen wasn't just embarrassed, but angry, too. "I do not look like a girl!"

"Do so. Beansprout. Now leave me alone."

"My name is Allen! I'm the prince!" he added, almost petulantly.

"Che. So what? You're still a beansprout." With that, the knight strode off in the direction of the direction of the barracks.

Allen bristled. "A beansprout! Feh! I am not!" Then he turned around. "Lavi! You're dead when I find you!"

"Ak, sorry~!" Allen set off after his friend, chasing him across the lawn back to the castle keep.

**A/N. I wasn't lying about Kanda meaning 'magical power' in a native American language. I found it on the internet. Hahaha~!**

**And what did I say, much longer. Don't know if the others will be able to compare, though... let's just say I have a little writer's block. But don't worry. As I've mentioned in other fanfics, my imagination is hyperactive. I'm sure it will be gone in a day or two.**


	5. Get Lost, Rabbit

Lavi couldn't help it. He just had to laugh. Even though both his eyes were black now (one with a bruise, the other from his eye patch), Lavi laughed.

A week or so ago, when Lavi had been doing his usual thing down in the castle grounds (ie, avoiding doing his chores), he'd been lucky enough to run into Yuu. Yuu had just arrived from border patrol in the east and hadn't been glad to see Lavi, of course. But Lavi had been happy to see Yuu. Life was so much more fun when Yuu was around to annoy.

But what Lavi hadn't been able to believe was when Allen had come to him asking to be introduced to the new knight that had transferred from Tiedoll's border patrol. To be introduced to Yuu! What's more, from what Allen said, Yuu had saved Allen's life out on a ride the day before.

Lavi smirked to himself. He could see a lot of opportunities for fun here. A lot. He'd already earned himself a black eye by assuring Allen that Yuu was, in fact, a girl and very nice at that.

"Ahhh, this spring is going to be _beautiful!_" Lavi sang to himself happily as he made his way down to the barracks.

* * *

"Yuu-pon! I know you're in here somewhere!" Lavi called out. He knew that Yuu was in there somewhere; he'd already checked the guard schedules and Yuu was off-duty right now.

He didn't get any reply.

The barracks had wooden floors and walls, making every footstep echo strangely off the walls. The place was always quiet and deserted most of the time. The soldiers and knights who weren't on duty usually spent their time doing training drills, but since Yuu was a new addition he had yet to be rostered for most of the practises. Plus, he was a knight, which meant he had trained under a general. As such, his skill with whatever his chosen weapon was would be greater than those of the common soldiers.

"Yuu-pon~!" Lavi called again. He danced down the hall between the soldiers' rooms. The knights had room to themselves at the other end of the hall, while the soldiers bunked together in groups of eight.

Up ahead of him, Lavi saw a door slam and heard a bolt being drawn. He grinned wickedly to himself.

He leaned on the door that had been shut. "Hey, Yuu-pon! Why don't you come out and talk to an old friend? You've been here for a week, and we haven't even had a conversation yet! I might start to think you're avoiding me!"

There was no reply from the room, so Lavi continued. "Come on, Yuu! Don't you want to go somewhere and train with me? Oh, hey, have you met the Prince? I'm his friend, you know, and since you're supposed to be one of his knights, you should come and meet him!" He smirked.

At that, the door opened. "Haven't I told you not to call me by my first name?" Kanda growled. He was shirtless and there was a towel around his neck.

"Oh, hey Yuu," Lavi said, slipping effortlessly under his friend's outstretched arm and into the small, neat room. The only personal items in the whole place were the long katana laid out on the table and the set of identical coats in the cupboard.

Kanda growled but didn't do anything as Lavi sat down on the hard, narrow bed. "Sheesh, Yuu, this place could do with a little colour."

"Your hair is quite enough." The knight went to the cupboard and pulled out one of the coats.

Lavi stroked his hair vainly. "Yes, my hair is so vibrant!" Then he got up and leaned over Kanda's shoulder conspiratorially. "Say, Yuu, I think the Prince wants to talk to you."

"He had his chance yesterday," Kanda said in his customary growl, stepping away from Lavi so the apprentice Bookman fell to the ground.

"Ah, yes." Lavi nodded sagely. "He mistook you for a girl. Ah well, that sort of thing happens a lot, if I remember. Maybe if you cut your hair..." he trailed off suggestively.

"Get to the point."

Lavi stretched out on Kanda's bed, putting his boots up on the bed frame, watching his friend tie up his hair in front of the cracked mirror in the corner. "Oh, there is no point. I'm just catching up with an old friend."

"That's it, get out." Kanda picked Lavi up by the scruff of the neck and pushed him out the door, slamming it in his face.

"Aww, c'mon Yuu, don't be that way!" Lavi whined, kicking the door with his foot. He heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed. "Ok, ok, I'm leaving! Leaving! Right now, see?" The door started to open and Lavi took off at top speed down the corridor.

* * *

Allen was still in a bad mood from Lavi's tricks yesterday. He growled to himself as he dressed for breakfast.

How embarrassing! The knight that had saved his life was, in fact, a man. Allen felt heat rise in his face as he remembered his reaction. To think, he'd almost been kissed by a _boy!_ And then, with Lavi egging him on, he'd gone down to the barracks to find the knight and say thank you, and to see if they wanted to, you know, go somewhere with him.

Allen furiously quashed the flutterings in his heart. No, that was not appropriate! If Kanda really had been a girl, just like Lavi had told him... oh, that apprentice Bookman was still in Allen's bad books. Tricking him, the Prince, like that! Unforgivable!

"_So what? You're still a beansprout."_ Allen bristled with anger. Ha! He would go and find that knight and teach them a lesson. He wasn't short. Bookman was much shorter than him. Well, maybe not much shorter. But still.

He was _not_ a beansprout.

Allen decided to forget about the embarrassing events of the day before, and made his way down to breakfast. Lenalee was going to be there.

The rules in the castle were a little different to what politics dictated they should be. After all, it was inappropriate for the Prince to dine with a lowly librarian's apprentice. But Lavi was Allen's best friend, and he was apprenticed to the Bookman, who, while not a noble, had very high standing in Innocence.

"Good morning, Lenalee," Allen greeted his friend as they made their way into the dining hall together. The place was huge, and Allen always preferred to eat in one of the smaller rooms. But now, with a lady present, he had to swallow his hatred of the empty space and eat in the hall with everyone else.

"Morning, Allen." Lenalee smiled at her friend in return. She watched her smaller friend as he passed into the hall in front of her.

Allen's white hair had always been mystery to her. No-one their age, only fifteen, should have hair that white. Some grandfathers in their nineties didn't have hair as white as Allen's. Although, truthfully, if you looked at his hair the right way you could see that in reality, it was blonde – just so bleached that it appeared white most of the time.

The scar on the left side of Allen's face, stretching from his forehead to chin, was also a mystery to Lenalee. As far as she could tell, he hadn't been born with it. But she didn't know where he had got it from. And it wasn't much like other scars she had seen, either. Other scars were either a pale white line, or a raised, angry red one. Allen's was smooth and red, almost like a tattoo. But it was most definitely a scar.

And Allen's red arm? The Prince always wore long sleeves and gloves to cover up his arm, but Lenalee knew that beneath the clothes, Allen's left arm was a deep, dark red with blackened fingernails. The official story was that it was a ritualistic process that the firstborn son always had to undertake soon after their birth. But Lenalee wasn't so sure about that. The colouring was too... natural for dye. And the black fingernails could never have been achieved with dye. There was definitely something else going on, she was sure.

And though Lenalee often tried to ask her brother about the scar and the arm, Komui wouldn't even give her, his beloved sister, a straight answer. And Allen never commented on either of them, so Lenalee didn't know what to make of the strange combination.

The castle cook was a man with purplish-hair named Jerry. He was friendly and loved cooking for Allen's larger than normal appetite.

"Thank you, Allen-chan!" Road said, skipping happily into the hall in front of Lenalee.

Komui rushed down from the other end of the hall to hold the door for Lenalee, pushing the servant out of the way. "Lenalee! You're awake. You look beautiful, as always! Come on, come and sit next to me!" He let go of the heavy oak door and was promptly pushed onto his face as the door swung inwards.

Lavi catapulted over the fallen steward. "Have no fear, Lavi's here! And it's not to save you, Komui." He raced over and whisked Allen away from Road, who was flirting with him. "Hey, Allen," he whispered conspiratorially, "come down to the training yard with me. I'll properly introduce you to Kanda. I wasn't lying about knowing him."

"No, thanks," said Allen as politely as he could. "You set me up! You told me she- he was nice, but he's the biggest grump I've ever met! On top of that, he was rude to me. He called me a beansprout! So, no thanks, I don't want to get to know him!" At that, Allen's chest contracted a little.

"Sure you do! I'll bring Lenalee. He won't be rude in front of a pretty face like hers, let me assure you."

"What's this about Lenalee's pretty face?" Komui demanded, leaning across from the other side of the table.

"Just commenting on how beautiful it is," Lavi said in his usual flirtatious tone.

Lenalee blushed and Komui spluttered angrily. Road sniggered in a very unladylike manner. Lavi wasn't embarrassed at all, but Allen was embarrassed for him. Luckily, he was spared the duty of saying something, as the doors opened and the food was wheeled in by servants.

Later, the three friends (plus Road) retired to one of the sitting rooms on the east side of the castle, where the morning sun was coming in to warm up the cold stone walls and floor. Road and Lenalee started a game of checkers, and from the complaints coming from the table, Lenalee was winning. Komui was sitting in a corner sulking, as Lenalee had refused to let him be on a team with her for checkers.

Lavi sat on one of the couches, pretending to be immersed in a book. Sometimes, just being around each other was enough for the group of friends.

But Lavi wasn't actually reading. He was watching Allen. The Prince of Innocence was standing by one of the windows, looking across the lawns to the main gate. As Lavi watched, a faint blush rose in Allen's cheeks.

Lavi gave a satisfied smile and got up to stand next to Allen. "Watcha looking at, Allen-chan?"

"Oh, nothing." Allen quickly shifted his gaze away, but not before Lavi caught a glimpse of Kanda's figure on the battlements, turning away to look out over the village.

"Kanda still, huh?"

"N-no! Why would I think of him? He's a guy. There's nothing else to say."

"If you say so," Lavi drawled. "Say, Allen," he added on, as if it was an afterthought. "General Cross doesn't teach you much sword work, does he?"

Allen snorted. "His method of teaching... it's more like he puts me in a life-or-death situation and then expects me to be able to fence my way out of it, even though I've never done anything. I suppose I'm learning, but really, really slowly."

Lavi didn't reply to that, but a plan was hatching in his mind. Now that he'd seen Allen's reaction to Kanda, he was determined to make the Prince and the knight become friends. After all, Lavi was one of Allen's few friends, and Allen was going to get married in a few years. He needed some fun.

Plus, Lavi liked stirring up trouble.

"Ok, I gotta go," Lavi announced.

"You do?" Lenalee looked up from the checkers board. "What do you need to do?"

"Oh, just some stuff," Lavi replied vaguely. "You know Bookman; always working me hard..." he adopted a woeful expression that made everyone laugh.

Lavi skipped down to the ground floor, out the door and across the grounds to the steps that led up to the battlements. He ducked behind a tree, making himself feel important by sneaking around, and peeked up at the window of the sitting room where he'd left his friends. Nope, no-one was looking out the window.

Lavi made a dash for the stairs, climbing them as quietly as he could.

As he snuck up behind the knight on guard, the knight spoke. "Don't even think about it."

Deflated, Lavi took up a position next to Kanda. "How'd you know I was there?"

"I can hear your breathing."

Lavi scoffed. "Yeah, right."

A nerve twitched in Kanda's eyebrow. "Why are you here, rabbit?"

"Oh, you know, chatting with an old frien – hey! Don't draw Mugen! Ok, I'll tell you the real reason I'm here. I'm deeply infatuated with you and – ok, ok! I was joking! Sheesh, you have a really strong grip. Hey-" Lavi coughed and spluttered.

Kanda glared at Lavi. "I'm on duty. Go and find someone else to annoy."

Lavi rubbed his throat. "I'm not here to annoy you, really. No, seriously! Seriously!"

"Shut up."

Lavi shut up. He knew he'd never get what he wanted from his friend if he annoyed Kanda too much.

* * *

Allen went down to his daily training with General Cross, feeling apprehensive as always. He hated training under Cross; the man was more interested in himself than anything else, and didn't care about Allen's training – let alone his personal safety! If Cross appeared out of nowhere with a sword one more time...

Allen didn't have a real sword yet. The royal Walker family sword was locked away in the vaults, and Allen wouldn't be allowed to touch it until he had come of age. So he continuously had to use the inferior training swords – ones that often broke under Cross's sword Judgment. Allen didn't understand the practicality of using swords that constantly broke – what if they broke in a real battle with someone? It would cost Allen's life. Then again, maybe that's what Cross was trying to teach him.

In any case, Allen never looked forward to his daily training. Sometimes Cross didn't show up, and Allen would sit in the arena for two hours, not daring to leave in case his master appeared. When Cross was there, the lesson usually entailed Allen sparring with another of the knights while Cross barked out orders and pointed out all the flaws in Allen's swordsmanship.

Allen clutched the practise sword nervously. Why did Cross insist they play with real swords? If it weren't for the fact that the other knights went easy on him, Allen knew he would be covered in cuts. As it was, he still didn't manage to escape the endless bruises.

The Prince entered the arena as quietly as possible, then breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Cross wasn't there yet. He went and sat down on one of the benches to wait, not sure whether or not to hope that Cross wouldn't appear. If he came, then Allen would be forced into fencing with the broadsword, something he wasn't very good at. But if Cross didn't appear, then Allen would spend the next two hours switching between fear and boredom.

The side door slammed open, and General Cross stormed in. Allen's breath hitched as he saw that his master wasn't wearing Judgment at his side. What did he have planned for this lesson?

Then Allen saw the person following Cross.

"Spar with him," Cross ordered, then left without another word as abruptly as he'd arrived.

Allen could see that the knight Kanda was wearing a strangely shaped sword across his back. Allen realised it was a Japanese sword called a _katana._ No knights this far west used them, but Kanda did seem a little Asian, so maybe he had brought it with him from wherever he came from.

"So... I'm supposed to fight with you?" Allen said hesitatingly. He didn't want to anger the other knight by confusing him for a girl again. Really, it wasn't Allen's fault. Kanda had long hair and a feminine face. What was Allen supposed to think?

"Che. Stop wasting time by talking." The other knight drew his katana and leapt across the training field.

Allen barely had time to draw his own sword before Kanda's sliced through the bench next to Allen. The Prince jumped away and raised the longer, bulkier sword to block Kanda's next attack.

_He's fast,_ Allen thought. _There's no way I'll beat him... I just have to get behind him, or something._ But really, Allen had no idea what to do in this situation. Cross simply hadn't taught him enough, and it wasn't like in the stories where Allen had been doing sword practise since he was seven.

It was over in seconds.

With a grunt, Kanda whirled in a circle, neatly swept Allen's pitiful attempt at an attack aside, and disarmed the younger boy. He stood with Allen at sword point.

Allen held his hands up, waiting.

"What are you waiting for, beansprout? Pick up the sword." Kanda's dark eyes were intense on Allen's face.

Allen took a step backwards away from the edge of Kanda's katana, and bent to pick up his own sword, not taking his eyes off the knight.

Before he could even get the long sword into some kind of 'ready' position, Kanda attacked. The blinding speed of the blows left Allen stunned, and the power with which they were delivered frightened him a little. Kanda fought with a totally different style to the one that Allen had (sort-of) been learning with Cross, and unlike the other knights, he wasn't afraid to actually _hit_ Allen.

Kanda's control with his katana made Allen feel a sort of grudging respect, even though he was still mad about being called a beansprout. Instead of the edge of the blade slicing through Allen's coat and into his skin, the knight twisted the blade just before the blow landed, to hit Allen with the flat of the blade. It was hard enough to bruise, and Allen knew he'd be purple by morning.

Kanda disarmed the Prince yet again.

"You're pathetic, beansprout."

The knights constant, brusque goads made Allen even angrier, but the angrier he got, the worse he fought, until he wasn't even lasting a minute against Kanda.

By the time the two hours were up, Allen was sweating profusely, covered in dust and bruises, and had a raging temper. Kanda, on the other hand, was barely out of breath as they started their last sparring match for the day.

Allen blocked Kanda's first attack, his arm going numb from the strength of the strike. Then he tried something he hadn't tried yet in the whole two hours – a straight thrust to the chest. There was no way to block that.

What happened next happened so fast Allen didn't understand what had happened until his face was two centimetres from Kanda's.

As Allen had made the thrust, Kanda had brought his katana, Mugen, up between his chest and the attacking blade. Turning his body slightly to the side, Kanda had used Mugen to deflect the thrust to the side rather than try and block it completely. That way, the sword slid right past Kanda's body.

Allen, off balance now, staggered into Kanda, who whipped Mugen up around to the back of Allen's throat.

The sword dropped from Allen's hand as he looked up into Kanda's face. The knight seemed somewhat surprised that their faces were so close; their heights were so different.

Allen felt heat rise in his cheeks, and it wasn't from the exercise.

Kanda's other hand was grasping the front of Allen's collar. Their eyes met and locked for what seemed like an age.

Then Allen found himself face down in the dirt. He raised his head, feeling the bruises all over himself, and looked up the now long distance to Kanda's face. The knight was standing over him with a smirk.

"You'll have to do better than that, beansprout."

"I am not a beansprout," Allen argued tiredly, but he was too exhausted to put much effort into the rebuttal.

"Then prove it," Kanda challenged, before sheathing Mugen and walking away.

"Ungh," Allen groaned, and put his head back on the ground.

* * *

Lavi caught up to Kanda as he was returning from the baths. Similar to Japan, Innocence had many hot springs under the ground, meaning that all over the country there were communal hot baths.

"Saw you training with Allen today," Lavi said conversationally. "You seemed like you'd gotten a bit better with Mugen."

"That beansprout is hopeless," Kanda said, ignoring Lavi's comment. "He'd die in seconds."

"Yeah, well, that must be why Cross wants you to train him. After all, you're the best swordsman in the place." Lavi looked at his friend out of the corner of his eye to see if his flattering was getting anywhere.

They walked in silence for a few moments. Then Lavi said, "on that last bout, it looked like you were going to kiss him..." he trailed off as the knight's expression grew dark.

"Hey, hey, I know that's not what you were going to do. But that's what it looked like. Allen blushed, too. He's cute when he blushes, isn't he?"

"Shut up."

"Oh, so you think he's cute too?"

"I said shut up."

"Hm, must do. You going to be training with him every day?"

"Go away, Lavi."

"You could teach him a lot, you know. Though if you try to kiss him too much, he might-" Lavi suddenly found that his throat was in danger of being sliced open by Mugen.

"I am _not_ trying to kiss him, you stupid rabbit. Why would I? He's a stupid little beansprout who can't hold a sword. Why the - censored - would I kiss him?"

"Cause... he's cute?" Lavi suggested.

"If you think he's so cute, why don't _you_ kiss him?" Kanda growled.

"Cause Allen doesn't like me that way; it'd scar him forever..." Lavi grinned. "You, on the other hand... oi, that hurts, you know."

Kanda closed his hand even further around Lavi's collar and leaned in close. "If you even suggest that again, I'll kill you."

"Okayyy..." The sword withdrew. "But you _do_ want to be his friend, right? Cause then you me and him can go and do manly stuff together, it'd be like our own little "boy" sesh."

"What the - censored - are you talking about?" Kanda kept walking down the corridor.

At that moment, a runner from the palace came up. He came to attention nervously in front of Kanda, saluting the knight. "Sir Kanda?"

Kanda raised an eyebrow, inviting the kid to continue.

"It's from General Cross, sir. He said that starting tomorrow, you're Prince Allen's personal guard. You have to be with him at all times."

"Oh?" Lavi leaned over Kanda's shoulder, his eye wide with curiosity. "What's brought this on?"

"Apparently... apparently General Tiedoll's fortress was attacked by the Millennium Earl this morning." The runner left.

Lavi and Kanda were silent for a moment. Then Lavi started laughing. "Hah! Lady Luck loves me today! You and Allen... never apart... I should write a song about this."

"Lavi." Kanda's voice was low and intense as he lifted Mugen. "Get lost."


	6. Allen's First Kiss

**A/N: this chapter (in fact, this whole fic) is dedicated to my best friend Sarah, who's a avid Yullen lover. It's for you!**

Allen's door flew open with a bang. "Good morning Allen-chan! Rise and sh- _Yuu-pon_? What are you doing in here~?"

Allen had been prepared to throw the covers back over his head and bury his face in the pillows to escape Lavi, but that wasn't an option now. He threw back the blankets and sat up abruptly. "'Yuu-pon'?" he exclaimed, looking around his bedroom.

"Yuu-pon~!" Lavi said in a sly, insinuating voice, leaning on the door frame. "What are you doing watching Allen while he sleeps?"

"Che. Stupid rabbit. I'm his personal guard, obviously."

Allen's jaw dropped. The arrogant, pretty and unfortunately male knight who had thoroughly defeated Allen in training yesterday was standing next to the door, one eye closed, leaning on the wall. He was already dressed in the black knight's uniform. Like Allen's formal wear, it had the symbol of the cross on the left lapel, except Kanda's was silver because he was a knight. The same sword that had dealt Allen so many bruises the day before was sheathed over the knight's shoulder.

"You – you're my _what?_" Allen remembered only too well the embarrassing moment yesterday – not to mention the one two days before – where he and the knight had found their faces... embarrassingly close. Allen blushed at the mere memory and told himself that the way he was feeling about having the knight near him was irritation.

"Your _guard_, stupid beansprout. Che." The knight tsked in irritation and looked away.

"Why?" Allen demanded, sitting rigid in his bed. Lavi, leaning on the door frame, looked back and forth between the two with a strange look in his eye.

"Apparently Cross thinks you need protection!" Lavi sang happily. Both he and Kanda had been told by General Cross and Komui not to tell Allen of the attack on Tiedoll's fortress. Until they knew that it really had been the Millennium Earl, and they knew what he was after, they weren't going to worry the Prince unnecessarily.

"What from!" Allen was having a hard time keeping a whine out of his voice. He didn't usually complain, and he'd only known the knight for a few days, but he knew that he didn't want to have Kanda near him twenty-four/seven.

Lavi shrugged. "Who knows how your Master's mind works?"

Allen stared wordlessly at Kanda. "Don't think that I _want _to be here," the knight growled. "I've got better things to do than babysit beansprouts."

"I'm not a beansprout! How many times do I have to tell you?"

Lavi grinned. "You two are getting along well are getting along well!"

The knight and the prince both turned to glare at the apprentice Bookman.

"Anyway..." Lavi said, propelling himself off the doorframe and edging back down the hall. "Lenalee wants to go visit the clearing today, so you'd better get ready!"

Now Allen was alone with the knight who looked like he wanted to kill him. What on earth was Cross thinking? First making him train with Kanda, and now making him Allen's guard? Allen knew his Master's affinity for being mean to Allen, but this was a new level of torture, even for Cross.

"Ok, so this is going to be unpleasant for us both." Allen forced himself to make eye contact with the knight. Considering that they'd only met three times – and twice of those they had been close enough to kiss – Allen really didn't know how to talk to the knight. "But let's just try to get along for now, ok?"

Kanda ignored the outstretched hand that the prince was offering him and went to sit out in Allen's main living area.

Allen clenched his teeth and went to get dressed. How was he going to survive with that grumpy knight as his guard?

And a guard from _what?_

A week had passed since General Cross ordered Kanda to be Allen's guard. Most of the time, Allen tried to go about his daily business of spending time with Lenalee, helping the villagers, studying and training. But it was really hard to do when you had an intense pair of dark eyes on your back at all times.

Luckily, the knight didn't like talking. Mostly Allen thought that was a good thing; the knight didn't draw attention to himself like that. But it was impossible to ignore Kanda. He constantly emanated one of two auras – smug, or condescending.

Despite Lenalee and Lavi constantly inviting the knight to come and sit down with them, Kanda refused to relax. Allen didn't even think the knight slept. No matter how late Allen went to bed, and no matter how early he woke up, the knight was always standing there, one eye open. Allen tried to stay awake, but apparently General Cross still wanted him to train with Kanda, so the Prince was always exhausted by the end of the day and fell asleep almost immediately after he got into bed.

But after five days of training with Kanda, Allen was becoming much fitter and he'd learned a lot more in those five days than he'd learned after two years of training with Cross. He'd gotten to the point where a sparring match with Kanda lasted almost ten minutes now. Even Reever, Komui's secretary, commented on how much better Allen was now. But even though he was improving, he still hadn't managed to beat Kanda.

After six days, Allen found he was able to forget just how close he and Kanda had gotten the first time they met. His stomach didn't flip whenever they got close during a sparring match and he didn't feel shivers when his eyes met Kanda's anymore. Most of the time, he just felt annoyed.

Kanda's constant mood of irritation and his condescending ways drove Allen crazy. He'd even taken to referring to Kanda as "that bastard" whenever the knight left Allen alone, which was usually only when Allen was studying. For some reason, Kanda thought it was safe to leave Allen alone with Lavi and Bookman but not with anyone else.

Despite the fact that Kanda seemed to think that Lavi was capable of protecting Allen – though the prince didn't see how, because he'd never seen Lavi with a weapon – the knight seemed to hate the apprentice bookman. Lavi insisted on calling Kanda by his first name, Yuu, and the knight hated it. Whenever Allen and Lavi were together – with Kanda in the background, as always – they always ended up with Lavi at the point of Kanda's sword, Mugen. Sometimes when Allen was in the baths, he liked to tease Kanda about how protective he was of his long hair – and then Allen ended up on the sharp end of Mugen, as well.

And _still _no-one would tell Allen why General Cross had decided that Allen needed guarding. Perhaps there was no reason. Maybe Cross just wanted Allen to get used to what it was like, or learn discipline, or something odd like that. Anyway, if it was Cross's order then Allen didn't particularly want to find out what the reason was.

Plus, Cross probably didn't even have a reason.

A week after Kanda became Allen's personal guard, Allen decided that he would stay up _all night_ and wait for Kanda to fall asleep. He knew it had to happen. There was no way a person could spend all night, every night awake.

After going back to his rooms that night, instead of getting into his nice, warm nightclothes, blowing out the lamps and climbing into bed, Allen sat down on his couch in the main room of his suite, pulled out a book and started to read.

Kanda was leaning on the wall next to the door to Allen's suite. It seemed that the knight hated relaxing, because he was always standing or sitting in the corner of a room or next to the door.

It wasn't unusual for Allen to read for a while before going to sleep. But as the candles in the room started to burn lower and lower, Kanda finally gave a irritated "che" and walked over to pull the book out of Allen's hand.

"Hey!" the prince protested, snatching at the book. But Kanda was too tall, and he couldn't reach. "Why'd you do that?"

"Go to bed. Beansprouts need sleep so they can grow taller."

"Urgh! How many times do I have to tell you that my name's Allen!"

The knight snorted. "Beansprout."

"Give me my book!"

Allen grabbed the book and went over to the table, sitting down in the most uncomfortable chair. His eyelids were starting to droop and the words were swimming around on the page by now, but he didn't want to give up, despite the fact that Kanda had thoroughly beaten him – again – during training that day. He refused to fall asleep before the knight did.

After about another hour, Allen was resorting to pinching himself to stay awake. He glanced over at Kanda. The knight was sitting down by the door, his eyes closed.

Allen grinned to himself, got up, and went to stand next to the knight, bending down so their heads were at the same height. He felt a smug satisfaction. The knight was asleep! This proved the fact that Kanda was human after all.

Then Kanda's eyes flew open. "I'm not asleep, stupid beansprout."

"Gyahh!" Allen fell over and landed on his backside.

"Che," Kanda "che"-ed in his usual fashion, but this time Allen thought he detected a tiny bit of humour in the knight's voice.

Muttering grumpily to himself, Allen went back to the table slowly. The candles were almost burned out. Maybe he should just give up and go to sleep.

_No!_ He thought determinedly. _I'm not giving up. Kanda has to sleep _sometime._ And I'm going to be here when he falls asleep. And I'm going to laugh._

After a few more minutes, the candles had dimmed and Allen was yawning almost constantly. Then he realised that this might be a good way to get Kanda to fall asleep. After all, if you were near someone who was yawning, you couldn't help but yawn and feel tired as well.

Allen went and sat down next to Kanda, whose eyes were closed again.

"Are you still awake?"

"Of course I am."

"Just checking."

"Shut up."

"I'm really tired. Aren't you?" Allen yawned hugely, and then looked at the knight out of the corner of his eye. Kanda's eyes were still closed, and his jaw was clenched.

Not deterred, Allen yawned again, his eyelids drooping as the candles burned lower. Some of them went out, making the room darker. This time, Kanda yawned as well and Allen felt a thrill of success. Now all he had to do was stay here until Kanda... fell... asleep...

Kanda stared in consternation at the prince, who had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Not only was the stupid beansprout _touching_ him, he was touching his _hair._ Kanda looked at the sleeping prince and felt irritated. Why on earth had Allen tried to stay awake all night?

"_Yuu-pon! What are you doing watching Allen while he sleeps?"_

"Shut up, rabbit," Kanda muttered to himself. He wasn't watching Allen. He wasn't even aware of the peaceful look on the prince's face now that he was asleep. Of course he wasn't. His job was to guard Allen from the Millennium Earl.

Kanda thought about the news they'd received of the attack on General Tiedoll's fortress, where Kanda had been based until two weeks ago. Apparently, a huge force of "Akuma" had descended on Tiedoll's fortress. At the moment, Bookman believed that the attack had been meant to annihilate Tiedoll and his knights, rather than as a first attack against Innocence. Though the Akuma had been defeated, over a hundred soldiers had died, as well as six knights. One of them had been Daisya Barry, a knight Kanda had met whilst training with Tiedoll. Though Kanda didn't admit to having friends, he did feel _something_ at the news of Daisya's death.

_Stupid beansprout. He doesn't even need protection._ Kanda's shoulder was warm where the prince's white head was leaning on his shoulder.

Akuma. That was the name given to the Millennium Earl's army of the half-dead. Kanda smirked. That innocent beansprout really didn't live in the world he thought he did. There was "magic" in this world, and Allen was right in the middle of it. He didn't have a red left arm for nothing. No-one was sure what the arm meant, but they knew he was destined for something.

The Millennium Earl wanted to destroy mankind and take control of the entire world, starting with Innocence. Using sorcery, he'd created an army of half-dead people, who were impossible to kill – unless the weapons used were imbued with magic as well. Most of the people of Innocence didn't know about this. They didn't know that the "knights" that protected them were really wielders of magic.

There weren't many people capable of using the magic inside them, forming it into a weapon, and fighting the Akuma. To lose six in one battle was a great loss.

_Che. Stupid beansprout. He has no idea what he's getting himself into._

Allen came awake suddenly. He was... in his bed? What's more, his shoes had been taken off and so had his coat.

_Damn it. I fell asleep._ He looked over and saw that Kanda was sitting against the doorframe. The knight's head was resting against the wall, and his eyes were closed. For once, his characteristic frown wasn't on his face.

_He... he looks sort of... pretty._ Then Allen shook his head. _That's stupid. He's a guy. Men aren't pretty, they're handsome. And Kanda's not handsome. He's Kanda. He's a heartless, unsleeping bastard._

Still... had he carried Allen into bed after he fell asleep the night before? That was a nice thing for him to do.

Although Allen didn't even remember falling asleep.

_The last thing I remember was... sitting next to Kanda at the door. I must have fallen asleep on him. Even if he is a bastard, he doesn't like being "touched" by anyone._ Allen felt a little bad. As Kanda had said the other day, it wasn't his job to babysit. It definitely wasn't his job to carry Allen into bed when he fell asleep.

_But, damn it, this means I still don't know if Kanda sleeps or not._

Trying to move quietly, Allen threw back the covers and slipped his toes to the cold stone floor. Tiptoeing over to Kanda, he leant down closely and put his face close to the knight's. Kanda's breathing was slow and deep, as of someone sleeping.

_Hah. So he does sleep._ Smiling to himself, Allen went to get dressed.

When he returned, the knight was standing up by the door, his face neutral.

"Good morning," Allen said with a yawn. He realised he was still tired from the night before, when he had tried to stay awake all night to match Kanda.

The knight's eyebrows lowered a little, and he didn't say anything, but it appeared that he wasn't so annoyed at having to guard Allen as he had been yesterday.

Tired but in a good mood, Allen went down to breakfast with Lavi and Lenalee.

"You and Allen seem to be getting a long a lot better now, Yuu-pon," Lavi said happily as he followed Kanda down to the training arena. Allen was walking a few meters ahead, so Lavi kept his voice low so the prince couldn't hear him.

"And to think that I used to think you only liked me," Lavi continued.

"I _don't_ like you."

"Course you do! We're old friends." Kanda turned to growl at the apprentice Bookman. "Hey, hey, you can't get mad at me."

"What are you two talking about back there?"

"Us? Nothing."

"So shut up, stupid rabbit."

Sticking his tongue out at Kanda, Lavi skipped forward to walk next to Allen. "So, you and Kanda."

"What about us? Wait – there isn't even an "us". We're not even friends."

"Says you. But I've seen the way Kanda treats you, and honestly that's as close to being friends as Kanda's ever going to get with someone."

"You think?"

"I know! I've known Kanda for a long time. So, how are you coping with having him as your guard?"

"Well... he's a bastard, but he's an ok bastard," Allen admitted reluctantly, thinking of how the knight had kindly carried him into bed the night before.

Lavi smirked to himself as they entered the arena. He could see what Allen was too innocent and Kanda too stubborn to see for themselves.

Allen entered the ring, Kanda following behind. General Cross never bothered to show up for Allen's training anymore; Allen trained with Kanda instead now. Though it was a lot harder than training under Cross, Allen wasn't as scared of Kanda as he was of Cross, and he was fitter and a better fighter than he had been before.

Allen knew better after a week than to wait for someone to call start. As soon as Kanda had entered the arena, Allen drew his sword and launched his attack before Kanda had even unsheathed Mugen.

As they sparred, Allen realised that his almost all-nighter had drained his energy and he wasn't fighting as well as he was usually able to now. It seemed that Kanda realised this too, but unfortunately being forced to stay awake with Allen wasn't affecting the knight, who apparently barely slept anyway.

"Sleepy beansprouts are dead beansprouts," Kanda taunted.

"Oh, shut up," Allen snapped as he was disarmed for the second time. "That's what I have you for, isn't it?"

Kanda's jaw clenched and Allen dived for his sword, rolling on the ground and leaping back up in time to block Kanda's next strike.

Despite being tired and the fact that Allen was being disarmed faster than usual, there was something relaxing about fighting with Kanda. It was a way to unwind at the end of the day and get out all the loose energy, as well as the fact that it felt great to slash at Kanda with all his strength. Even though Allen had never actually managed to hit Kanda – which was just as well, because Allen still didn't have the control to hit the knight with the flat of the blade like Kanda did – hacking away at Kanda's defence was a great way to vent his frustration on various things.

And he was learning how to fight at the same time. Whoever said that learning couldn't be fun?

By the end of the two hours, however, Allen was exhausted. The mostly sleepless night had really taken its toll on him and in any case he still didn't have the same stamina as Kanda did. At first each match hadn't lasted very long and the swordplay – from Allen's side, anyway – had been very basic, meaning that Allen hadn't had to use all of his stamina to fight. But as their fights got more involved and complicated, Allen realised that he'd have to work a bit harder so that he could keep up with Kanda.

So now, almost too tired to even hold his sword, Allen tried something he hadn't tried since the first training session with Kanda. He thrust straight at Kanda's chest, knowing exactly what the knight would do to stop him.

Kanda deflected Allen's sword around him, but Allen was ready for it. Stepping forward he used the momentum to bring his sword up behind Kanda's neck, grabbing the knight's collar and pulling him down so he could actually reach.

Except he pulled him too far.

Kanda's lips were unfairly soft.

"You-! You bastaaaaaaaaard~!"

**A/N: I like magic. A lot. And I love Hoshino-sama's way of making all Innocence have names and different abilities (it reminds me of the ESPer abilities in Toaru Majutsu no Index). So I didn't want to get rid of it completely. So, most of the Exorcists in DGM (who are the knights in this fic) will have some kind of... adaption of their Innocence to use as their weapon in this fic.**

**As an aside, Lavi's going to use some kind of mace/hammer/thingy. While I was thinking of ideas for his weapon, I thought of his usual war cry of "big hammer, little hammer, grow, grow, grow!". Originally I was going to have him use two swords. Then his war cry could be, "big sword, little sword, go, go, go!"**

**Fufufufufu.**

**But he's going to use a hammer, so I don't get to use that stupid war cry... dang. I guess we'll all just have to snigger quietly by ourselves.**


	7. Enter the Noah

"It's not fair," Allen muttered to himself.

He was in the library, sitting at a table and hiding behind a giant stack of books. He'd been there all day. The library, the home of Bookman and Lavi, was the only place where his... bodyguard would let him go by himself. The only place where Allen could get away from his knight. The only place where Allen could be by himself.

Well, not exactly by himself. Lavi was sitting at the next table over, and he wasn't quiet. He was sniggering away and scratching around on a piece of paper. Allen was far too embarrassed to look at whatever it was that Lavi was writing.

Allen personally had no idea how he was supposed to go to training that afternoon.

How on earth would he be able to face his knight now? Firstly, he'd mistaken Kanda for a girl. To make matters worse, he'd accidentally... accidentally... accidentally _kissed _him. At which point Kanda had swiftly knocked him to the ground and disarmed him before stalking off. It was almost like Kanda had done it on purpose – kissed him on purpose – because Allen had almost defeated him.

Allen wasn't sure what scared him more. Kanda's anger or the fact that the knight might have done it on purpose.

What a dirty tactic to use.

Lavi sure wasn't helping Allen's embarrassment. All the apprentice Bookman had been able to do since yesterday was try and keep a straight face – and it sure as hell wasn't working. Every few minutes Lavi would break out in a fit of giggles. Every time he laughed, the memory surfaced again in Allen's mind and he felt a stabbing feeling in his stomach.

At least Lenalee hadn't been watching. Or Komui. Allen shuddered to think what would have happened to him if either of those two had been watching. Lavi might be irritating, but at least he could keep a secret. He was a Bookman, after all. And Kanda didn't have any friends to tell as far as Allen could see.

"So none but the three of us knows," Allen muttered to himself for the fifth time that day, putting down the book and resting his head on his hands, looking up at the clock with one eye shut. It was 12 o'clock already. He usually trained at four. Only four hours left.

"Y'know," Lavi said in a casual tone. The little tuft of hair on Allen's head had disappeared behind the stack of books again, so the apprentice Bookman guessed that the Prince was lying face down on the desk again.

"Y'know, you shouldn't let it bother you. I don't think anything of it. I'm sure Kanda doesn't either. In fact, I know he doesn't. No-one else knows. Just forget it ever happened."

Allen's head appeared, stretching over the piles of books he'd put up in defence. He rested his chin on one of the leather-bound tomes and sighed, puffing at his fringe, looking at Lavi with a troubled expression on his small face.

"You don't like to admit that you're shy, do you?"

"I'm not shy!"

Lavi leaned back in his chair and put his boots on the table, something he would definitely get kicked for if Bookman saw him. "Not shy with people, you're heart-shy."

"Is that even a word?" Allen asked, ignoring the connotations.

"Of course it is. I'm a Bookman; do I look like the kind of person who'd go around making up words? In any case, Allen, you're love-shy. You're afraid of that kind of thing because you've been betrothed to Lenalee since before you were born. Because of that, and your gentlemanly like manner, anything that could be considered actions or feelings that are stronger than friendship scares you."

"I'm not scared of love!" Allen protested. He was slightly embarrassed to be having this kind of conversation with the shameless Lavi, but at the same time he felt comforted.

"You're afraid that you'll fall in love with someone who's not Lenalee. You don't want to let her down. You know that there's no way out of this betrothal. So unlike the rest of the boys in the city, you're not out there with the guys, breaking hearts and trying things out. Do you even know any girls other than Road and Lenalee?"

"Where has Road been, these last few days, anyway?" Allen said in an attempt to change the subject.

Lavi relented and dropped the topic for the time being. "Lenalee said that she had some family business on the other side of the city to take care of for a few days. Something about th- I don't know what about."

But Allen hadn't missed Lavi's little slip. "Something about the? This doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I've suddenly got a bodyguard, does it?"

"Course not. Now, you gotta promise me that you're gonna forget about that accident and perk up, 'kay, beansprout?" Lavi reached out and ruffled the white head in front of him.

"My name is Allen! Why are you calling me that as well!" All embarrassment was forgotten at the sound of the hated nickname.

Lavi chuckled and grabbed some of the bits of paper and parchment scattered across the table, standing up as he did so. "Cause Yuu's my friend and he's my age, and if he can call you that, so can I! Plus, it's a cute nickname."

"I don't need cute nicknames!" Allen raged as his friend scampered away. "It's annoying, and my name is Allen! I don't want to answer to beansprout!"

Over at the storeroom door where the old books and papers that needed to be restored were kept, Lavi stopped and leaned against the wall. "Sheesh, Allen, you're so shy that you can't even seen what's right in front of you."

* * *

Lenalee Lee walked down the corridor to her brother's day rooms. He didn't live in the rooms that were officially the King's rooms, because he was only the steward. Even so, the position of steward/advisor was an important one, and the rooms were huge. Most of the time, however, Komui spent his time in the first underground floor. This level was common knowledge to the public, but the levels below it were a secret that only the Generals, the knights, and a select few others knew about. Even Allen, the Prince, didn't know about much at all about the world he really lived in.

Kanda Yuu, Allen's knight, was walking along side her. He had a more than usually grumpy look on his face, so Lenalee kept quiet as they walked down to the room in the second underground floor that Komui called his "lab". There, along with the other scientists, he worked together with the knights to create weapons that could fight the Millennium Earl's akuma.

Not very many people knew the truth about the knights of Innocence. Though it was widely known that ordinary people could become knights easily, most people didn't understand how brilliant fighters remained ordinary soldiers their entire lives. The reason was simple – if you couldn't wield magic, you couldn't become a knight. All knights were members of the global organisation called the Black Order. That was why the knights were constantly rotating and leaving on "missions". Occasionally there were reports of akuma attacks, and the knights were dispatched to take care of them.

Lenalee was not officially a knight, but she was a magic-wielder – known as an "Accommodator" of magic – and a member of the Black Order. Her weapons were the infamous Dark Boots, and she had trained in kickboxing. Her brother was the Black Order Supervisor for the European Branch as well as being the steward of Innocence. Because of this, Lenalee didn't go out on very many missions, as well as the fact that she was a lady and the betrothed of the Prince.

Lenalee sighed. Betrothed of the Prince. Even though she and Allen had been friends for years, both of them had yet to come to terms to the fact that they would have to get married and were expected to... raise heirs together. To Lenalee, Allen was like a little brother. He was noble and loyal, exactly like a prince should be. She loved him, like a little brother. And the older the two of them got, the more constrained Lenalee felt. She knew her brother was doing all he could to find a way around the betrothal, but she couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling whenever she thought of it.

"Lenalee!" Reever, Komui's assistant, stuck his head around the door as he heard their footsteps approach. "Kanda. You're here."

"Yes, brother mentioned that he had something important to discuss with us?"

"That's right. He's just over here." Reever led them across to a desk that was covered with books and scraps of parchment. Bookman, the librarian and historian of the castle, was sitting on a red couch in front of the desk, his hands hidden in his large sleeves and a resigned look on his face.

Reever frowned in annoyance. "He's still asleep?"

"He was up late last night," Lenalee put in. "He said he was working on something."

"How annoying," Kanda grunted in his usual annoyed tone.

"Unhhh... Lenalee?"

"Che."

"He always wakes up when he hears you, Lenalee," said Johnny, another of the science team, as he passed by. According to official records, the people who worked in the underground Black Order worked in the castle as "servants", but if the real servants were asked about them, they often didn't recognise or know the science team. The fact that the Black Order existed and was operating from underneath Innocence City was a well-kept secret.

"Hey, Lenalee!" Komui leapt up from the desk with a sudden vigour and charged at his sister.

_Shing._ Komui's headlong rush was brought to a stop by the sudden appearance of Mugen. "Waah, Lenalee, he's bullying me!"

"Just get on with it. I left that idiot beansprout with that idiot rabbit. Everyone with a shred of sense is down here. The sooner I get this stupid business over with the quicker I can stop the peace being destroyed."

_Is he... worrying about Allen?_ Lenalee thought to herself. _Lavi did say something about something happening at training... did Allen get injured? Speaking of that, I haven't even seen him today..._

"Lenaleee~!" Komui whined, looking at her for help.

She put a hand on Kanda's shoulder. "Hey, chill out a bit. You're all on edge today. Did something happen at training yesterday?"

If Lenalee didn't know better, she would have sworn the tiniest bit of colour entered the knight's cheeks. "Of course not. Don't be stupid." Kanda sheathed Mugen and sat down in a huff on the couch.

"So, you wanted to talk to us?" Lenalee said, turning to her brother.

"Right." Komui pulled his ridiculous white hat further down on his head and returned to his position behind his desk where he sat with an air of superiority. He'd quickly transitioned from what Lavi called "brother" mode to "scientist" mode.

He pulled a map down across the book shelf behind him. It was a map of Innocence. General Tiedoll's fortress was marked out in red, but there was another spot in the south of Innocence that had a large red splotch on it.

"As you know, a week and two days ago there was an attack on General Tiedoll's fortress. What you didn't know, and we didn't either until last night, was that another attack was carried out in the city of Bromide exactly a week ago as well. General Yeeger was also attacked by forces of the Millennium Earl."

"Is... is he ok?" Lenalee asked in a worried tone.

"No. While he is not dead, he has been reduced to a very concerning state." Komui's face was dark. "Something or someone played with his mind using a strength and type of magic that we haven't seen before. His mind has been completely addled, and all he does now is sing a rather creepy song. On top of that, his weapon "Pendulum" has been destroyed."

"D- destroyed?" Even Kanda seemed a little shocked at that.

Komui sighed and rested his chin on his hand, twirling a stylus in the other. "Yes, completely and utterly."

"What could destroy a knight's weapon? And the generals are the strongest power users in Innocence! How could one of them be defeated?" Lenalee clutched the edge of the couch as she sat on it. On her feet, her weapon the "Dark Boots" suddenly felt heavier than usual.

"We believe it to be a creation or ally of the Earl's known as the "Noah"," Bookman said in his dry voice. "They are similar to knights in a fashion. They also wield magic, but it is more similar to the Earl's than to ours. We don't know their full capability because this is only their second appearance in the history of the world. Even the Bookman records don't have very much information on them. I've had Lavi scouring the oldest records, but neither of us has found anything yet."

"That's why we are assigning protection details to the Generals," Komui informed them. "But we have a problem. General Cross has disappeared again. Whether this is just another of his little escapades or if he's been captured by the Earl, we don't know. That's why you and Lavi are going to look for General Cross."

Lenalee nodded. "Ok. What are you going to tell Allen?"

"That you and Road had to return on a matter of business to our home. Road will head there, whilst you and Lavi set off to look for Cross."

"He'll be disappointed... when are you going to tell him about all of this?" Lenalee asked.

Komui sighed. "I honestly don't know. Until the wielder of Crown Clown has been discovered, I think we should just keep it a secret."

"Che. That beansprout's not as stupid as he looks. He's going to figure out that something's going on."

"Probably. So it's your job to keep him distracted!" Komui finished with a grin."

"I'll go and start packing." Lenalee stood up. "Could someone send for Road? She's been staying at her uncle's these past few days."

* * *

Road Camelot of the family of Noah licked on a lollypop as she skipped down a street in . In her other hand she was swinging an umbrella with a pumpkin on the top. It was a creation of the Earl's and its name was Lero. It could talk and fly, but that was about the limit of the magic inside it.

"Stop swinging, Lero... The Earl will be mad if he finds out you took me out again!"

"Oh hush, he won't. Besides, I did a good job last week while the Black Order was distracted with the frontal attack on Tiedoll."

"If you say so, Lero..."

"Come on Lero, play with me!"

"Shouldn't we be going back to Lord Tyki now?"

Road sighed. "You're probably right. He'll be waiting. Maybe he'll play with me later!" The umbrella rolled its tiny eyes.

Road stopped in the street. A large, wardrobe shaped object appeared in front of her, covered in a pale glow. The doors opened and Road stepped through into another house, far away in Japan. There was a young man sitting at a table in the main room of the wealthy-looking home. His name was Tyki Mikk, and he was another of the "family" of Noah.

"So, you're back."

"Tyki!" Road rushed over and threw her arms around the man who had long black hair. "Play with me! It's so boring with Lord Millennium out on business!"

Tyki chuckled. "Don't worry; I'm sure he'll be back soon. By the way, while you were out, a message was sent to our house in Innocence City. You are supposed to accompany Lenalee Lee back to the Lee mansion in the west of Innocence. But she's actually going on mission with that knight Lavi something to find General Cross."

"Cross? Aren't Jasdero and Debitto supposed to be chasing him?"

Tyki snorted. "Don't mention it to them. In the past week since he disappeared from the capital, he's caused them all sorts of trouble."

Road giggled. "That sounds like a lot of fun! When's Lord Millennium getting back?"

"Don't know." Tyki pushed Road off him and stood up, putting on a black top hat as he did so. "You should be getting back. If you don't show up soon, our cover will be blown."

"Ohhh, but Tyki, I'm being sent back to the Lee mansion! I won't get to be with Allen! I don't want to go!"

Tyki sighed. "Just go back there and I'm sure the Earl will give you something to do. He wouldn't want his favourite Noah to get bored, after all. Remember, we're still waiting to find the user of Crown Clown before we can make a move. Crown Clown is probably the only thing that can stand between us and domination."

"And as such it's our duty to eliminate it and its wielder before they can do anything!" Road said in a happy voice. "That is the duty of the Noah, after all."

* * *

**A/N:**

A shortish chapter, sorry. I know. I'll try to update more regularly and I'll also try and, y'know, move the plot along a bit. But I think there were a lot of interesting developments here!

General Yeeger, yay you got a mention! . But your Innocence has no name therefore it's now been dubbed "Pendulum" for this chapter. Whoot. And yes, Bromide? That's one of the elements I think... it was the first thing that came into my head, whatever!

Whooooot the Noah finally appear~!

I SUCK at writing romances, so everyone knows D: but I'm trying my best. Really, I am!

Your reviews are the things that keep me writing! So read and review! Constructive criticism is... appreciated?


	8. Cursed Left Eye

Well. It was way too late to turn back now. He was already out the door... going down the steps... crossing the garden...

In any case, it wasn't like he _could _turn back. Kanda was following him. And if he even tried to make some excuse, the knight would demand to know what was wrong. And of course, Allen couldn't tell him that. He couldn't let the knight know how he was feeling about their kiss yesterday. Couldn't tell him about the butterflies in his stomach. Definitely couldn't tell him _that._

Allen sighed. Definitely too late. They were already at the door to the training arena.

Less than a minute later the knight and the Prince were sparring. Even though it felt – to Allen, at least – that they used the same moves every single day, at least he was actually _learning_ something now, when compared to what he'd learnt under Cross – which was almost nothing.

"You're holding back," Kanda smirked. "What's the matter, beansprout?"

Allen felt an irritated rage boil up in him. "I'm not holding back," he lied.

"Then you've gotten worse." Kanda disarmed him, then casually turned his back as though daring the Prince to attempt something.

"Tch." Allen sullenly trudged over to where his plain sword was lying in the dust, glaring resentfully at Kanda's back.

Had Lavi been right? _Was_ he just a little unnerved because he'd never had anything even remotely like a relationship with someone before? Maybe that was just it. It didn't have anything to with _Kanda _specifically. It could have been anyone, and Allen would feel the same way he did now.

He _really, really_ wanted to believe that. But there was a part of his heart that wanted to shout out a different answer.

Ugh. Why was he thinking about this _now _of all times? He was supposed to be training! If Cross got back from wherever he was and found that Allen hadn't got any better, who knew what he'd do.

Allen picked up his sword. He wondered idly when he'd be able to get a proper sword of his own and become a knight. There was supposedly some special ceremony for knights only, some special requirement – which was why there were so few – but he didn't know what it was. Besides, since he was the only heir, was he even allowed to become a knight?

"Are you having a nap back there, beansprout?"

Kanda whirled and attacked Allen. He whipped up his standard issue sword and blocked the deadly blow being delivered by Mugen, and another little match began. Allen tried to focus on the task at hand, doing everything he could to break through Kanda's guard. But there was one certain trick that he wasn't going to use again. Even if it meant he was never able to defeat Kanda.

After a minute the two broke apart. Allen was breathing heavily, but at least he hadn't been disarmed that time. Kanda edged sideways along the outside of the arena, giving Allen a little time to recover, but not even sweating yet. He was practically smirking again. He seemed to enjoy goading Allen during their training sessions. Allen glared back at him and attacked again.

Allen's plain steel sword clashed against the blade of Kanda's specially forged Japanese katana Mugen. They locked blades, broke away, and attacked again. Allen was determined not to be disarmed for a long as possible. If he couldn't defeat the knight, perhaps he could learn to hold his own.

In any case...

"G-gyaaaaah!" A blinding pain – literally – cut through Allen's left eye. It was like the entire left side of his face, the side with the scar, was being slashed open by a blade. Kanda hadn't cut him, had he?

The sword dropped out of Allen's hand. A blade whistled past his head as the standard combat sword clattered to the ground. Allen's hands flew to his eye, pressing against it, probing to find the source. There was no blood that he could feel, but the pain didn't stop.

"Tch. What are you doing, stupid beansprout? I didn't even touch you."

It felt like his eye was bursting out of its socket. He couldn't see a thing out of either of his eyes. He was crying. Something was coming out of his eye and dripping down his face, but Allen couldn't really be sure it was water.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" he screamed in pain, falling sideways onto the ground.

There was a matching thump right next to him and a hand touched his shoulder. "Oi, beansprout, are you ok?" Did Allen detect a hint of worry in Kanda's voice? "Oi. _Allen."_

Even the use of his name wasn't enough to cut through Allen's pain and snap him back to reality. He writhed as the pain in his eye intensified, and he realised that he was crying tears of blood. The scar on his cheek was ripping through his skull. He... he couldn't see... couldn't feel...

"Allen... shit. Is your eye bleeding?"

"Yes, idiot," Allen gasped out. He writhed around some more. The pain wasn't getting any less. "What's... what's happening?"

"How should I know, stupid? You probably got dust in it." It was clear Kanda was trying to brush it off. "Can you walk? Komui should take a look at it."

"Argh..." Allen moaned as a fresh wave of pain encompassed him. Now his left arm was hurting, too. It was like the pain was spreading to all the "special" parts of his body – his weird scar, his weird left arm.

"Gyyyyyaaaaaaaaa!" He screamed again as the flesh on the back of his palm seemed to burst open. The feeling was even more painful than his bleeding left eye.

"-censored-."

"Wh- what are you doing?" Through the pain, Allen became aware of something sliding behind his knees. He felt himself lifted into the air, and then his side was resting against something warm.

"Since you clearly can't walk, I'll have to carry you." Kanda's voice was resigned, but there was something else in there.

"N-no, I'll walk..." But then a fresh wave of pain burst over him and it was all he could do to even stay conscious. The warmth from Kanda's chest was somehow comforting, though.

"Don't be such an idiot. I'm the knight, you're the prince."

"Aren't you meant to rescue the princess?" Allen mumbled out, but he wasn't even sure it was intelligible. He'd given up resisting the pain. No point resisting Kanda either. Might as well let the knight carry him. His right hand – the only part of his body that didn't hurt, it seemed – reached out for something to hold on to and latched on to the front of Kanda's coat.

"Tch. Baby." Even so, Kanda's speed wasn't exactly slow as he returned to the castle with the Prince in his arms.

* * *

"Are you going to tell him when he wakes, brother?" Lenalee was sitting by Allen's bed in his private rooms, holding his right hand in her own smaller one.

Komui shook his head sadly. "I can't. For now, we can't tell if this was an attack on him by the Earl or these "Noah", or if it has something to do with these birthmarks of his."

Lavi snorted. "That arm is not a birthmark. It's... something _else. _In all these years of Bookman history, I haven't been able to find anything like it. Not only is he the Prince, he's something else special."

"If he was a magic wielder," Bookman said quietly, "I might think he was the wielder of Crown Clown."

"But we already tested him for magic, and he was negative," Lenalee said in a sad voice. "So we can't afford to let him know about the battle with the Millennium Earl." She sighed. "Even so, he deserves to know what happened to his father. He only knows that King Mana died fighting a war, but he doesn't even know the name of the enemy. Poor Allen."

"But knowing Allen, he'd want to go and fight akuma even without magic," Lavi pointed out. "He would hate it if he knew that's what we did every now and then. He'd hate it that we were putting our lives on the line for him."

"We're knights. It's our job. Who cares what he feels," Kanda said in a grumpy voice.

"Thanks for carrying him here, by the way," Komui said in a casual voice as he packed away scary-looking instruments of operation.

"Che. It's my job to protect him," Kanda grunted. He looked away from Allen's peaceful, sleeping face.

There was a bandage around Allen's head, covering his left eye for the time being. There was no blood seeping through, which made Kanda feel strangely relieved, considering the amount of blood that had been coming out of Allen's eye before. The back of Allen's left hand was also wrapped in a bandage. Kanda had only manage to get a glimpse of it before Komui hid it beneath the white cloth, but he'd thought he'd seen something glowing green on it. Something in the shape of a cross. Whatever Komui and Bookman might say, Allen was connected to magic in a way that no-one had seen before.

There was a knock at the door.

"Enter," Komui called, shoving the last of his things into a small black bag.

A servant entered and bowed to the five people gathered around Allen's bed. "My lady, Road Camelot has just arrived at the castle. She is packing your bags as we speak, ready for your departure in the morning."

Lenalee sighed. "Thank you." She turned to look back at Allen's sleeping face. "I'm sorry, Allen, but I won't get to spend all summer with you this year. I have to go and look for General Cross. But don't worry, I'll be with Lavi."

"That's what I'm worried about," Komui muttered, glaring at the red-haired male standing next to Kanda. Lavi grinned cheekily at him.

"It's late. We should leave him be – I doubt he'll wake before morning," Bookman said as he rose from the stool he had been sitting on.

Kanda remained silent, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed as the others stood and went to the door. His head was turned towards the Prince, but his eyes were unfocused. The stone wall was cold against his bare shoulders, because his coat was being washed clean of the blood he'd got on it whilst carrying Allen up to the castle.

"Are you – well, I guess you can't leave the Prince alone now, huh," Lavi said without a hint of teasing in his voice, pausing at the door to look back at his friend. "Y'know, Yuu, that kid's really shy. But he's stronger than he looks. He doesn't like to tell people about things that are bothering him. Without me or Lenalee around, you're going to have to be the one to notice when he's down. Promise me you'll take care of him, Yuu?"

"Don't call me that, rabbit." Kanda lifted his chin and shut his eyes for a moment.

"Promise me, Yuu. I don't want to leave the poor kid alone with a cold stone wall."

"If you promise never to call me that again, I'll promise to look after him."

"Deal." Kanda couldn't help that feel that there was no chance that Lavi was going to keep his side of the promise. But even so, Kanda didn't feel that there would be a problem.

Lavi sighed as he stood with one hand on the doorknob. "I don't know when Lenalee and I will be back. You know how hard it is to find Cross once he takes off, and he could be anywhere in Europe – anywhere as far as Asia, even. He's been pretty much around the world in his little "adventures"."

"You shouldn't complain. He sends back new recruits almost every time."

Lavi snorted. "Yes, but we need the man himself back here to defend Allen now. He could be under attack."

"You don't honestly think he's stupid enough to let the Earl trap him, do you?"

"Haha, of course not. But even so... Well, it's worth going out to look for him. I'm sure Komui will tell Allen where we've gone when he wakes up."

"Are you leaving or not?"

"Honestly, Yuu, one would never tell that we were friends... Ok, ok, I said too much, I'm leaving now!"

The door shut quietly but quickly, and Kanda took his hand off Mugen's hilt, thinking about the duty of a knight. To become a knight, one had to be able to wield magic. Once they had been trained properly, they were given a weapon of their own and then sent out to the various fortresses around Innocence and in other parts of Europe from Innocence City to fight akuma created by the Earl. They often occurred near magical items and magic users, so often the knights brought back magical artefacts. Kanda's weapon was Mugen, a katana. Lenalee fought like a kick-boxer with her "Dark Boots". Lavi fought with something similar to a mace, a steel rod with a spiked ball on the end. Apparently he could use magic to extend the length of the rod.

There wasn't much danger of anything happening to Lavi or Lenalee whilst they were searching for Cross, unless these new "Noah" intervened. Kanda didn't like the fact that the Black Order – and even the legendary Bookman records – had almost nothing on these people. The fact that they had suddenly appeared meant that something important was going to happen.

Although the war with the Earl had, technically, been going on for centuries, this was the first time for decades that a major attack had been launched on the Black Order. It meant something was happening. Something major. Something like the appearance of the wielder of Crown Clown.

The Order had to get to them first, before the Earl found them and destroyed what could be the Order's only hope of defeating the Millennium Earl.

* * *

Allen tried to open his eyes, but only one responded. He opened his right eye, wondering what was wrong with the left, and then looked around. His left hand was covered in bandages, and that was when he remembered.

At training. His eye had been bleeding, his hand had been in agony. Kanda hadn't cut him; he knew that for certain. Something else had happened to him, something beyond the normal. Something that wasn't just an accident. He knew this for certain, but he didn't know what it meant.

A little smile came to his lips as he saw Kanda's familiar form leaning against the wall. The knight's eyes were closed, and his customary frown was on his face, but the sight still brought a smile to Allen's lips. He remembered how the knight had carried him up to the castle the day before.

Allen shut his eye again briefly. He'd slept through the entire night? But he felt better. Whatever Komui had done must have worked, because he didn't feel any pain anymore.

When he opened his eye again, he found Kanda staring at him. He smiled at the older boy. "Good morning!"

"Tch, so you're awake." Kanda had no idea why the Prince was in such a good mood after what happened yesterday. "What are you smiling so stupidly for?"

"Nothing. It's kind of nice to wake up and not be alone."

Kanda clenched his teeth. The kid was far too happy to be normal. And he hadn't even said a single word about what had happened during training yesterday so far. He hadn't even tried to suggest that it had been Kanda's fault. There was something seriously weird about the kid.

"Whatever."

Allen wriggled across to the edge of his bed. At least it was only his hand that was sore, because that meant he could still walk. And he was ambidextrous, so it didn't matter that his left hand was hurt. He swung his legs out and stood up, taking a single step in the direction of his cupboard before his legs buckled.

A strong arm wrapped around his waist and supported him. "Idiot. Your balance will be off because you can't see out of one eye. You shouldn't try to walk around just yet."

A warm feeling spread through Allen's heart. He honestly had no idea why he was in such a good mood, but he liked having Kanda's arm around him. "Well then, can you help me?"

"Che. Looks like I'll have to, beansprout." Allen didn't even protest at the nickname. Everything seemed like it was glowing.

* * *

"What did you feed the sprout last night?" Kanda demanded. He glared at Komui across the table whilst Allen was shovelling food with his right hand at a speed that surely wasn't normal.

"Um... painkillers... something like that... It's hard to remember, Lenalee's not here!" Komui wiped away a tear from his cheek.

Kanda rolled his eyes and laid his chopsticks down carefully. He'd started eating breakfast with the Prince a few days ago, at Lenalee's insistence. It had been almost enjoyable with Lenalee and Lavi there as well, but with only a drug-happy prince and a tearful steward – Bookman was off researching something – it was irritating having breakfast with a pair of idiots.

"What shall we do today, Kanda?" Allen asked with another one of his annoying happy smiles that hadn't really left his face since he woke up this morning.

"Nothing, beansprout. You should be resting. Your balance is off and you've only got one arm."

"So what? We can go for a ride or something!"

"No." This time it was Komui who stepped in with a serious voice. "Allen, you need to stay within the castle grounds today."

"Ohhh..." Allen sounded so upset that Kanda almost felt bad. Almost. But definitely not really. "Then, let's go somewhere with Lenalee and Lavi!"

Kanda gritted his teeth and ground out a reply. "They're gone, remember? And anyway, you can't leave the castle grounds. Didn't you hear a word we just said?"

"Ah well, I will just have to do something fun with Kanda today!"

"Tch. I don't think so. You're just going to rest today, beansprout."

"But that's boring, Ba-kan-da!"

"T- where did you come up with that?"

"It's a mix of "bastard" and "Kanda"! Do you like it?"

"Tch, no. It's stupid, beansprout." He decided not to mention that "baka" also meant stupid in Japanese, Kanda's native tongue. It was a pretty clever nickname, considering that Allen didn't speak Japanese.

"Bakanda!" Allen giggled happily.

"When do the painkillers wear off?" Kanda asked Komui urgently.

Komui had his head on the table and was idly waving a fork around. "I don't know... I don't remember how much I gave him..."

With a great deal of effort, Kanda held his temper in check. He stood up from the table and stalked over to Allen's chair. "Come on then, beansprout. Breakfast is finished."

"Ok!" Allen pushed the chair back into Kanda, making him exhale sharply, and stood up with a bounce. "Let's go."

Kanda coughed and dragged the prince out by the wrist. Allen didn't even seem to care, just followed along behind the knight as the two left the dining hall.

Kanda wasn't really in a good mood, if he ever had been. It seemed like he'd have to keep a close eye on the Prince until the pain killers wore off. Part of him hoped it was soon, but if Komui had needed to give him such a strong dose, then the pain Allen had been in must have been extreme. When the pain killers wore off, Kanda didn't much like to think about the state that the prince would be in.

For Allen, on the other hand, everything was pleasantly fuzzy. The world seemed bright, but it didn't hurt his eyes. His hand didn't hurt. He could barely remember what had happened yesterday, so it didn't matter at all. The fact that Lenalee and Lavi had gone off somewhere didn't matter either. Kanda was there, so it was ok. It didn't matter so long as Kanda was there.

The prince stumbled against Kanda's side as they walked to the library. Kanda thought there was the safest place for Allen at the moment. It was usually empty so he wouldn't disturb others with this stupid happy-daze he was in. Mostly Kanda was worried about Allen hurting himself, but if he was there, then he was sure he could stop the prince from doing something stupid and hurting himself.

"Yay, library!" Allen sang as they went in.

Kanda spotted Bookman sitting behind one of the desks and figured he could leave Allen alone for just a few seconds. "Hey, old man. Do you know how much painkiller Komui gave Allen last night? How long will it be before it wears off?"

"Hmmm..." Bookman slowly turned over a page of the old book he was leafing through. "To be honest, I can't remember. Is something the matter?"

Kanda snapped his head to the side as the sound of someone collapsing came from between the shelves. "No."

The knight stalked over to find Allen sitting on the ground. The prince looked up at Kanda and smiled cutely, tilting his head to one side. "I fell!"

Kanda narrowed his eyes. "What were you doing?"

"There's a book up there I wanted, but I can't reach! Can you lift me up?"

"Tch, no. Which book?" Kanda looked at the titles along the shelf. Then he froze. Despite the fact that it seemed like Allen was in some kind of drug-induced euphoria, the titles were all to do with the occult. Some of them were fairytales, others supposed anthologies on mythical beasts, and others were about the possibilities of normal people obtaining supernatural abilities.

Kanda looked down at the smiling face of his charge. Was it possible that the kid sensed what was going on around him, despite not being able to think straight?

"That one!" Allen pointed with his left hand, but he wasn't able to keep it steady so his finger pointed all over the place. Kanda grabbed a book that looked safe and pulled Allen across to one of the tables, hoping that the painkillers would wear off soon.

* * *

Komui and Bookman came in to change the bandages on Allen's arm and eye that night. By this time the painkillers had thankfully worn off, but it seemed that Allen didn't remember much of his daze-day. At least he wasn't in pain that Kanda could tell. But maybe the kid was good at hiding it.

Tch. It wasn't Kanda's job to babysit him. He was just guarding him from akuma attacks – not that there'd been any of them in the area. It wasn't his job to make sure Allen was fed and happy or whatever.

Even though he'd promised that annoying rabbit he'd look after the beansprout.

Allen shut his other eye as the bandage was unwound from his head. Once the painkillers had worn off, he'd been in a slight bit of discomfort, but he thought that was mostly from dried blood or the wounds healing rather than actual pain, for which he was glad. Apparently he'd been in some sort of bouncy good mood all day and now he just felt tired.

"-censored-. What is _that_?" Kanda's angry but surprised tone made Allen fling his eyes opening again.

"What? What is it?" Allen demanded, looking down at his hand and then biting his tongue in surprise.

There was a black stain in the back of his hand. Allen stared at it, realising that it was actually a very dark green. He flexed his left hand, but it didn't hurt even when the cross-shaped _thing_ was moved along with the muscles. He touched it with his right hand, and it seemed like the strange red skin around it was almost being sucked into the green-black cross.

Well, there was no way they could deny it now. His hand wasn't something that had been "dyed" at birth. There was something "else" about it. Something that couldn't be explained through normal means.

Allen instinctively knew it had something to do with his master's little "trip".

"What is that?" Komui said in an awed voice.

Allen glared at the steward. "That's what I was going to ask _you."_

"Well, your eye's healed perfectly it seems... already..." Komui said, grabbing Allen's head and having a good look at it whilst changing the subject.

Bookman, meanwhile, was holding Allen's red left hand in both of his wrinkled ones, examining the strange marking from every angle. Kanda leaned over his shoulder, both fascinated and repelled.

Allen pushed Komui off him and snatched his hand away, cradling it to his chest. "What's wrong with me? What's happening?"

"No idea," Komui said in a singsong tone, grabbing Bookman's medicine kit and making for the door. "Have a good night's sleep!"

"Rest well, your highness," Bookman said, bowing and following Komui out the door.

"'Your highness'," Allen mimicked, crossing his arms and leaning back on his pillows. "He never calls me that. There's something going on, isn't there, _Yuu?"_

"How should I know? I'm just a knight. They don't tell me anything." Kanda moved away from the bed to lean against the wall like he always did.

Allen snorted. "I don't believe that for a second, Bakanda."

_Damnit. So that name wasn't just a whimsical fantasy of his._ "In that case, Beansprout, just accept that there are some things you're not allowed to know," Kanda retorted in a smug tone.

Allen huffed. "Blow out the lanterns. I'm going to sleep."

Irritated at being ordered to do something that either a servant or Allen normally did himself, the knight went over to the wall and puffed out the two lamps that lit up the prince's bedchamber. Only the tiniest chink of moonlight was shining through the draw curtains now, so the room was completely in dark.

After a few minutes, Allen said, "Kanda. Your sword's glowing."

"Don't be an idiot. Swords don't glow. Go to sleep."

"I'm serious. My hand is glowing as well." Allen blinked furiously in the knight, trying to dispel the blue-purple glow emanating from both his "dyed" left hand and Kanda's sword Mugen.

"It's probably an after effect from the painkillers. Go to sleep." Kanda sounded even more irritated now.

Allen pursed his lips but shuffled into a more comfortable position within his pillows and blankets. His left hand was definitely glowing. And he could only see it out of his left eye.

* * *

**A/N:** Whooot, an update! I'm so slow at updating this one... Review and help me chase the plotbunnies around!


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